Colleges and high schools across the country are wrestling with surging use of generative AI by students, creating confusion about how to respond. Educators find themselves juggling teaching duties and serving as makeshift AI sleuths, with some assignments now under a constant cloud of suspicion.
Stephen Cicirelli, who teaches English at St. Peter’s University in Jersey City, voiced frustration after catching a student submitting work authored by artificial intelligence, only to receive an apology email that also looked suspiciously automated. Trust is being tested, as even attempts to come clean lack obvious signs of human effort.
Recent surveys indicate AI tools like ChatGPT have become nearly universal in higher education. Nine out of ten college students said they had tried these tools for assignments shortly after ChatGPT’s release, while twice as many teens are now turning to AI for homework help compared to last year.
Disagreements and New Dilemmas
Academic leaders are deeply concerned about the impact of generative AI on learning. Two thirds of university decision makers worry that student attention spans will shrink as a result, and most say their institutions are not adequately preparing students for a world where AI is standard.
Faculty, however, are divided on how much AI support should be allowed on assignments. Just over half of university leaders think it is acceptable to write a paper based on an AI-generated outline, while the rest remain unconvinced or undecided.
Rules remain inconsistent, often shifting between classrooms at the same school. Attempts to police AI reliance have sometimes backfired, with error-prone detection software flagging genuine student work by mistake and burdening students with the need to defend their integrity.
Meanwhile, some teachers have leaned on AI for their own prep work, which has angered students who expect original instruction. In one case, a university student requested a tuition refund after learning her professor had used AI to create lesson materials.
Even as concerns swirl, many educators see promise in integrating AI into curricula. At American University’s business school, leaders have established an AI institute and encourage new students to learn responsible use rather than ban these tools outright.
For some professors, AI is an efficient editor and research aid that lets students focus on developing their core arguments and ideas. Advocates argue that, rather than forbidding AI, schools should design robust guidelines that mirror hard-won protections in place for digital media and online safety.
One pressing question remains unresolved for academic communities: how to fairly evaluate student mastery in the age of artificial intelligence. Some teachers have started assigning in-class work or oral exams, while others ask students to use collaborative documents so the writing process can be monitored from brainstorming to finished draft. Conversations about AI in education guidelines have become more central, while ongoing reports highlight the challenge of addressing generative AI student cheating in classrooms.
