Wandering eyes, notes in water bottles, a study guide under the desk–all ways students have found ways to be dishonest with their schoolwork.  Today’s generation, however, faces a new way of cheating, a way to avoid completing any work at all through artificial intelligence, also known as AI or chatGPT. The AI program will write out full responses, essays, discussion questions, thesis statements and the like, all with a click of a button–and the kicker? Plagiarism detection programs like Turnitin.com do not always catch it. So where did it all begin?
On February 27, 2023 a new feature was introduced on Snapchat, a social media app used by many all over the world. The new feature, which was called My AI, allowed people to text any question and receive an answer within seconds–fun questions, jokes, or yes, homework questions too.
Students soon found the AI useful in finishing schoolwork by looking up questions or asking the AI to write an essay on a certain subject, which they would then turn in having done nothing to earn the grade. Although the current situation might not have been intended when this new feature was created, it does not change the fact that AI has become an issue for both teachers and students today.
AI has gained controversial opinions from the students of Summerville High School on how it affects one’s academic life.

Junior Olivia DeMuth voices her opinion on AI in general and its impact on students in the long run.
“I think AI is creepy and it stalks you and can find out your information. A lot of students use it to cheat, so I guess it’s benefiting their grades, but in the long term it probably won’t work out great for them,” said DeMuth.
As a teacher at Summerville, Ms. Monroe, mentioned her viewpoint with students using AI on assignments.

On the other hand, some students believe this new tool to be useful in expanding a student’s knowledge, rather than cheating in class. Junior Gabe Romano commented on ways AI can benefit his peers.
“I think AI is something that we should definitely keep an eye on because it would be very bad if we, you know, let it take over our lives… but you can use it for creative purposes, like you could ask for ideas, get a creative spark from AI, and get the brain juices flowing,” said Romano.
Overall, like many other students, junior John Tyler Souza sees both sides on how AI can benefit and harm a student’s learning.
“AI is bad because if you use it for an essay you won’t learn anything, but it’s great for those time crunches. You just pop it into AI and get it done,” voiced Souza.
Recently, the AI feature has been added to other apps and websites, including SnapChat, Quizlet, Tik Tok, and many more to come, which leads to more controversy.
When asked what concerns he has for the future of AI, sophomore Tyler Garman shared his thoughts.

“I think it can be very useful but it’s not always used right and kind of used for devious acts… it can really impact our [students] creativity and will to write.”

Technology advances have become increasingly more advanced over the past few years and the future of AI within society is up to the people.