By Mackenzie Acker
Features Editor
If Artificial intelligence (AI) is the future of the workforce, why aren’t students learning it in school? If AI helps students, why is it not endorsed by educational institutions? These questions and many others form a solid foundation for supporting the use of AI in schools. However, many schools have drawn a hard line against using AI at all in the classroom. But this perspective overlooks the benefits of potential AI use, and I believe that AI needs to be fully integrated into schools. Adapting to an ever-changing world is essential in education, and artificial intelligence is no different.
When defending an anti-AI stance, arguments are adorned with the word “integrity.” Many believe AI is intrinsically dishonest and morally wrong. Universities and high schools alike have strongly voiced this cry, preaching that students should be held to certain academic standards. However, the world outside these institutions doesn’t have this same standard of integrity because they’re driven by profit and not academic achievement. When students fly away from their AI-free nests at schools, they are quickly starved by the actuality of the situation.
Employers don’t care if you use AI to hasten or improve your daily workload; in fact, they punish those who don’t. According to the Wall Street Journal, at the consulting giant Accenture, CEO Julie Sweet announced the company’s message of firing employees who weren’t integrating AI into their work. What white-collar professionals have learned is that if you don’t adapt, you’re out. My question remains: Why hasn’t education adapted? We should be teaching students how to use AI and how to adapt to their changing professions.
Aside from a professional perspective, AI can help students thrive while they’re still in school. While it can, of course, aid in dishonesty and help students cheat by writing essays or completing a worksheet, it has many other positive features. Platforms like ChatGPT or Google Gemini can act as personal tutors to students. They answer questions and also help students understand new material or deepen their understanding of topics.
This software provides a free resource for students who don’t have access to educational support or even a qualified teacher. In a sense, AI can even the playing field for students across schools and backgrounds around the world. ChatGPT can also generate practice problems, mock exams, and study guides. This creates a way for students falling behind or struggling to process more information to recieve more practice.
Beyond standalone chatbots, integrative programs such as Microsoft Copilot automate actions and answer questions across Microsoft platforms, alleviating tedious tasks. Learning these tools streamlines workflows and improves the understanding and digital competency students have of AI.
AI is an inevitable force, and no amount of school prevention can stop it from being utilized in or out of the classroom. We need to integrate it and equip students with the best tools they can use for their academic and professional lives.