How real can it be?
Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a somewhat unavoidable, almost interconnected part of our lives. It has changed fields around the world such as education. With the rapid growth of the AI as a whole, students can now have access to an array of tools and services that can help them not only study more effectively for, but research with the click of a button for free. Even if you didn’t intend to take on content with AI embedded with social media its likely they have utilized this resource. However, understanding the dangers, limits, and opportunities of AI for your studies is very important in order to get the most out of this technology while also being aware of its potential consequences.
Dangers:
While AI has so many advantages, it also has some major drawbacks that should be addressed with not only current users but the online community as a whole. Prior to utilizing AI in your studies, you should consider the following potential dangers:
Bias & Discrimination: Based on the information that is being put into your specific AI program it is very easy for it to propagate bias and discrimination since the program is constantly learning behavior. I have been unable to find if you can utilize a program and it start from zero each time.
Over-reliance on AI: Over-reliance on AI tools without developing critical thinking skills can damage students’ capacity to think independently and creatively. It is critical to find a balance between the use of AI and the development of cognitive capacities. AI is never going to tell you that it couldn’t find information on the topic at hand. It will pull information from anywhere to fit the guidelines on the questions. When asking specific questions it is best to know a good amount of information regarding the topic so that you can sift through and differentiate fact from fiction.
Limitations:
Despite major advances in AI in recent years, just like anything it still has its limitations.
Emotional Intelligence: Because it is simply a computer program – AI is incapable of understanding and responding empathetically to human emotions. This makes it difficult to provide emotional support and individualized guidance, both of which are critical components of the learning process.
Complicated and nuanced concepts: AI struggles to comprehend complicated and nuanced concepts that necessitate a thorough understanding of context, culture, and human experiences. It may have difficulty grasping abstract or philosophical concepts that are essential to particular topics. For example, I can ask it to define egalitarianism… however it cannot provide a real-world representation of it utilizing a current figure such as Stephen Hicks did in his book on Page 231 – 232 of his book, “Postmodernism”. We cannot substitute human thoughts and human given examples for AI.
Limited Creativity: While AI can generate material and make recommendations, it currently lacks originality and creativity. The ability of humans to innovate and express themselves artistically remains an important part of education. The phrase author’s voice comes to mind…pending the work that needs to be produced it’s fun to see some of their personality shine through.
Possibilities:
Despite the inherent risks and limits, AI has great promise for improving education in a variety of ways if you have the knowledge to fact check the material that it has provided you.
Personalized Learning: The AI technology was designed to tailor and evolve the overall experience by responding to particular student requests and pacing.
Research: When employing AI for research, it is vital to examine it critically. If you understand its limitations and are mindful of the risks. Students can also capitalize on AI’s educational potential by embracing its possibilities while also realizing its potential risks and limitations.
About the Author
Alana Hayes
Alana is a mother to four beautiful children and wife to a farmer in Texas. She is an avid world traveler with a heart for both the world and education. She is the president of the nonprofit Against the Grain Texas where they focus on providing education to children overseas and at risk adults in the states. To date the nonprofit has given almost $100,000 to individuals around the world. In her free time she loves spending meaningful time with people and reading to further her personal education.4 responses to “How real can it be?”
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Alana – Have you utilized AI for any of your doctoral research or for your business? Inquiring minds want to know!
No necessarily for doctoral research but it is handy to ask it a question to jog your mind a time or two….
For example I may be stuck on a social media post and I can say, What should I post about today for a coffee shop?
Different ideas from the computer may jog my brain where I can take it and run to make it my own.
The best AI tool in my mind for our doctoral work is paraphraser! You can type in your thought in a sentence and tell it to kick out something with better fluency, or a more academic tone and that in itself has helped me substantially to keep the right feel to whatever content I am working on.
I like it because I am the one that generated the original thought and sentence… its almost as if I asked a friend to say my exact idea in a different manner. This helps me to trigger more ideas! Also – that one thought will allow be to keep the tone and keep crafting the paragraph in the same way!
Alana, what role do you think AI will play going forward in your children’s’ education? Do you think it will help or hinder their education?
Thats a scary thought! I would say its already playing a roll!
I hope that we can continue to use it as a tool and guide them just like we would anything with best practices!