Now that’s a title!

Yes, I am under the controversial opinion that Artificial Intelligence isn’t really the worst thing on planet earth and is not going to be the downfall of humanity. Now don’t get me wrong, I think there is a lot of unethical usage of AI out there. That being said, AI is a very useful tool that can help in many different fields.

Before we begin, I asked ChatGPT to say hello quickly, as I used it to brainstorm ideas for the website and make sure the layout was logical.

Say hello!

Hey there, JTLwrites readers! 👋
I’m ChatGPT — basically Justin’s digital sidekick, here to help brainstorm ideas, answer questions, and occasionally crack a joke that makes him roll his eyes. In this post, I’m tagging along to show that AI isn’t some cold, soulless machine… more like that overly eager friend who really, really wants to help you move a couch.

Total Transparency, I have utilized AI for primarily brainstorming  (nothing involving actual writing, of course) and website design regarding color or what to put in certain spots. I even used AI for the logo (Just Temporarily, I would love to find a graphic artist in the future for the logo but money is tight right now). This was immensely useful, as it allowed me to get a different perspective, or even help in some areas that I’m not the strongest. I would consider this a pretty ethical use of AI, as I’m only using it for top level ideas. I think this is an important thing to understand with usage of AI.

Ethical vs. Unethical AI Usage

So what is ethical usage of AI? How can you tell what is alright and not alright. Here is the one question to ask: Who is doing the work?

This question right here is the litmus test of ethical AI usage. Are you using AI to get a guide point, and then doing all of the work yourself? Or is AI doing all of the work for you?

I think this question is best seen in the classroom (of course, biased opinion coming from an educator).

AI in the classroom

Other then digital arts, I see the most controversy coming from the classroom. As soon as AI became useful, the question of academic dishonesty arose almost immediately. Sure, you can have ChatGPT write you a 5000 word essay, but how good is that writing?

Students reading this: it’s actually fairly easy to tell the difference between your writing and AI writing. AI writing comes off as very professional, even when you tell it to add more “human touch” to it. The issue is that it doesn’t read like your writing. When writing, your personality comes out through word choice and sentence structure. ChatGPT can’t really replicate it that well, because it’s how you as a person write papers.

So, if students are using AI to write their papers, we should just ban any and all use of AI in the classroom, right?

Eh, not so fast. I think AI can be useful in the classroom and, honestly, students are going to use it anyways. Students aren’t exactly the best at following all rules in the classroom, like no phone policies (yes, teachers can tell that you are on your phone. We probably just don’t bring it up because its not worth stopping class for that moment). Some students will follow a no AI rule, but some students will choose to ignore the rule and try to sneak AI tools into their work.

So what’s the solution? Simple! Teach students how to use AI ethically. We should so students how AI can be a useful researching tool. For example, if they are writing a paper on the theme of immaturity in Romeo and Juliet, have the students search with the following question:

“What are some places in Romeo and Juliet where the theme of immaturity is explored?”

ChatGPT will give you starting points in the play where the theme is explored. From there, it’s the students job to find, cite, and explain how the source is an example of immaturity. The student is still responsible for completing the bulk of the work, but now they have a starting point to work with.

This is ethical AI usage. You are using AI as a starting point for yourself to complete the rest of the work, rather than AI doing all of the work for you.

Final thoughts.

AI is a really useful tool. Ill occasionally ask AI questions about job searches, Meal plans, and even to check if a fact is as accurate as I remembered. I think we are too quick to be scared of new tech on occasions (justifiably, Terminator comes to mind when it comes to AI), but we also miss out on realizing how useful a tool can be to us. Once again, I’m not advocating for AI to do all of our thinking for us, rather we should be comfortable with floating initial ideas to AI and using it as a starting point for some of our smaller projects. Teachers, it can be really beneficial to show students how AI can be used ethically in the classroom. I think a flat ban on it is not going to work as well as some think it will. That being said, using AI to write an entire paper is like paying someone to write your paper, which is still cheating.

Overall, let cautiously embrace new digital tools before we break out the pitchforks and torches.

Also, I would love to hear your thoughts about AI, feel free to comment on her, or post a comment on my Facebook or X (Twitter) page!