AI is a very recent development, and quite a monumental one. Knowledge, while already at our fingertips, gets faster and faster to acquire thanks to AI programs—all that has to happen is that a question is typed into the text box and the AI spews the answer in one or two paragraphs. It erases the need to scour through several websites to find the exact knowledge you want, even if the prompt has to be re-entered a few times. AI usage has become widely accepted when it comes to casual learning, but not for assignment submissions. Even with such programs, I still do not find myself using AI that much.
Before AI, research was tedious. If searches were too broad, it would miss the point of what I was looking up; but, if my searches were too long, either nothing would come up or Google would send me articles unrelated to my topic by using keywords. Studying without AI encouraged me to scrutinize the sources I was looking at, just so it did not contradict what I was looking for. AI was not there to tempt me to get a program to write my essays for me, and I had to put all of my knowledge and experiences into words myself. I wrote out every math equation and solved it using my head, a pen, and a calculator. My essays were revised over and over because I do not have the perfect writing of an AI. Developing without AI allowed me to build that independence in my own work, so when AI became more popular and people started using it as shortcuts to homework, I still submitted my own hard work.
The uprising of AI programs brought about new resources for studying, but also many more rules and restrictions—rules and restrictions that I could not be bothered to be harbored for. AI is infamous for its constant use to cheat out of essays, and websites have started implementing countermeasures to detect possible AI use. I have seen several people around me fail and get reprimanded for using AI, and the possibility of getting caught was not worth the hassle to cheat out of one essay. My studying does not include the use of AI, nor do I ever plan to start depending on it in the near future. I believe in academic integrity, and if that means restraining myself from taking the easy way out, then I will do just that. It is tempting to ask an AI a question and just use its answer as my own, but then I know that I am not learning. The most I would ever use AI for is to search for definitions or methods on solving problems, but I believe in learning it myself.
As an artist, I have a huge gripe with AI and its use, due to the rise of AI art in the art community. Many opportunities are taken away from people by AI and people’s talents are mitigated with the argument that “AI can do it faster”. While AI art is not the same as AI usage for studying, it still is something that I am hesitant to use. I have a large amount of pride, and that includes passing with my own work. I, personally, could not use AI to bolster my achievements.