OPINION: Is Generative AI Sabotaging Academic Creativity?

As students, we encounter the impact of new AI technologies directly and daily. While there are many benefits to certain AI programs, we must examine a crucial question: At what point does generative AI compromise creativity and diversity of thought in education?

First, it is important to understand the difference between traditional AI and generative AI. According to “MIT Open Learning,” traditional AI analyzes data, identifies patterns and makes predictions to complete specific tasks.

An example of traditional AI would be Netflix recommending certain movies or shows based on what you have viewed and what other people who watch similar content enjoy.

The key difference with generative AI is that it can create completely new content. It accomplishes this feat by identifying patterns, as traditional AI does, but then applies these patterns to invent new products. Examples of this type of AI would include ChatGPT and Gemini.

I would like to start by acknowledging how AI can benefit students. I have found helpful tools, such as NotebookLM, where I can input all of my notes and resources from a particular unit and then use the site to help me answer questions or summarize topics.

The problem with generative AI is that it allows students to miss out on the extremely formative and crucial experiences that take place in school. While there are countless examples, there is one skill that I believe is extremely compromised by AI: making mistakes. Generative AI promotes the ideals of perfectionism and mitigates the crucial ability to learn from errors.

When students do not complete their own work, they have no risk of being incorrect while going through the process, thus eliminating any possibility for practicing the skill of trying a new strategy when one does not work.

Another ability that students learn in school is finding credible sources to use in research for papers or simply attaining information to explore personal interests. When we generate information with AI, we can unintentionally allow misinformation to spread more easily without questioning or challenging it.

From people never having to do the work of researching a particular issue or finding a way to restate a sentence, the use of generative AI will cause intellectual curiosity to suffer. While there are healthy ways to use these technologies, we must acknowledge that, realistically, many people are go- ing to use AI in place of generating their own ideas.

For many students, learning certain skills may feel useless and unmotivating, if it seems people can just use AI in the future.

Over the course of history, humans have always tried to use innovation to make life easier but at what cost?

The environment suffers as data centers use up the water and energy resources in their areas. AI replaces humans in jobs that may be someone's passion.

Human connection is so important, and the way we interact with one another gives life value, so why should we create and promote the use of a technology that will eventually eliminate it?