24 Apr The Fine Balance
‘Be a content creator, not a content imitator’ (ibo.org/academic-integrity) is the mantra that we should all be aspiring to in today’s world. Ever since the generative AI chatbot ‘ChatGPT’ burst upon the scene in late 2022, originality has taken a beating. Whether writing an email or seeking answers to any problem, AI has become the go to for everyone today so much so that even mundane queries that we can use our common sense to answer are put to the chatbot to answer. This has made me wonder if we can allow ourselves to be completely under its sway or can we be a master and use it judiciously to our benefit? How do we find that fine balance?
It is human tendency to take the easy way out and one of them today especially among students is to turn to AI for help. But the catch here is relying heavily on AI Chatbots for completing academic assignments can render a student’s critical thinking skills useless. Our problem solving, decision making and analytical skills remain undeveloped as we tend to use the content generated by AI without any scrutiny. We do not want to pledge our ‘little grey cells’ to AI and just be ‘content imitators’ which also compromise our academic integrity.
At Sharanya Narayani International School (SNIS), one of the best international boarding schools in India, we teach our students that if used wisely AI Chatbots can be an efficient assistant that can help us understand complex concepts by giving simple, easy to understand explanations, provide us with a variety of examples to illustrate challenging ideas, organize large amounts of data quickly, give us suggestions/ feedback on how to improve our answers and even give helpful tips and strategies on how to achieve one’s goals.
As with every tool we use, one must know how to use it well and know the pitfalls. One of the greatest criticisms raised against this AI tool is that students become so dependent on it that they will be unable to think or write on their own or figure out situations without help. It can stunt creativity and churn out the same repetitive content to similar prompts. This robs us of the beauty of each unique perspective that an individual can contribute. At SNIS, one the top IB schools in India, we encourage our students to find that fine balance and use AI tools to enrich our creativity rather than reduce ourselves to mere imitators.
~ Ms. Deepthi C.K.
IB DP Coordinator & HOD of English Department
Sharanya Narayani International School (SNIS)
No Comments