It’s been all over the news, and maybe you’ve even tried it out: You can now ask AI bots to do your homework, write an essay, compose a note to Grandma, explain the history of skateboarding… pretty much anything!
Sounds nifty, doesn’t it? So why not use it to do all your work for you?
I can give you three reasons to do your own work!
Reason #1: Doing the work yourself is how you learn
Have you watched a master martial artist do their moves in a movie? Have you watched a world-famous chef make a delicious meal on YouTube? Have you watched a coach demonstrating skills you haven’t learned yet?
No doubt you can think of an example like this. But here’s the more important question: Can you perform the skill you just watched?
Nope. In order to attain skills, humans have to practice. Although we’d all love to be able to plug into a machine and suddenly know things we don’t know and do things we haven’t practiced, that’s not reality.
Reality is this: If you let AI do your work for you, you won’t learn!
Reason #2: AI bots are not trustworthy or intelligent
If you’ve read the news, you know that AI bots have done all sorts of crazy things: They have told lawyers to cite cases that don’t exist. They’ve told people that a fictional conspiracy theory was true. And one bot even told a person chatting with it that the bot was in love with the person. (Ew, creepy!)
AI bots have “intelligence” in their name, but when they try to distinguish truth from fiction, they’re not even as good as a human two-year-old! They are not intelligent in the way that we define intelligence in humans. They can spit out lots of information really fast, but is that true intelligence?
In movies and shows, there are lots of artificially intelligent beings that help us, but that’s not reality.
Reality is this: You can’t trust what AI bots tell you to be factual or even reasonable!
Reason #3: You are much more interesting than a bot!
The current AI bots work on the “large language model.” What they learn to do is predict the most likely next word, and they string together sentences that way. That’s why even if they don’t make up lies, so much of the writing they come up with is actually quite boring.
Your brain, unlike an AI, is infinitely fascinating. Your brain can think of anything! The way your brain thinks is based on a mixture of your genes, the experiences of your ancestors, the environment you live in, and every experience you’ve had since you were conceived.
Wow, that’s complicated! And fun! And weird!
Some students think that if they use an AI bot they’ll sound better than if they just use their own brains, but they are mistaken.
Reality is this: You are a complex, fascinating person! Yes, you may have to work to become a better student, but that work will improve your mind, will be a result of real intelligence, and will reflect who you are as a person.