Opinion: Higher education needs to catch up with AI, not run from it

Students may be getting more information from artificial intelligence like ChatGPT than textbooks recently. Photo by Sofie Szigeti.

When ChatGPT-3.5 was released in November of 2022, it was immediately clear that education would change forever. It sparked dramatic headlines speculating the effect of the program on higher education, such as “The College Essay Is Dead” from The Atlantic, and opened a world of untapped possibilities for cheating, plagiarism and rampant misinformation that educators were left to restrain. It’s been a few years since the initial launch of ChatGPT, and the advances in subsequent versions show that ChatGPT’s developers have not lost any ambition. 

Given that AI will only become more prevalent in our lives, universities should be taking more formal steps to make sure graduating students are literate in the practical uses of AI and leave college with a well-rounded understanding of the ethical issues surrounding it. While the threat AI poses to academic integrity has caused it to become villainized in higher education, it’s time for universities to prioritize teaching students to use AI as a tool because these large language models are only getting faster, smarter and more omnipresent.. 

A recent study conducted by OpenAI — the company that owns ChatGPT — revealed that over one-third of adults aged 18-24 in the U.S. use the chatbot regularly, and a significant portion of this use is related to the completion of schoolwork. While many educators agree that there are ways to use AI for schoolwork without engaging in plagiarism, these applications are often not addressed directly in the classroom. Students are left to use AI in ethically ambiguous ways, likely not employing the technology to its fullest capacity. Failure of higher education to prepare students to use AI applications is not only a disservice to their future careers but maintains the status of AI as a kind of “forbidden fruit” that is only useful for cheating. 

This semester, Willamette University is offering a college colloquium called “Generative AI and the Learning Experience.” The class focuses on how AI can aid the learning process, as well as concerns about the ways it may negatively impact education. 

Sonali DeSilva-Craycroft (’29) said the class has provided her with the tools to kickstart the research process for essays using AI, namely Google’s Gemini Deep Research program. The program spends a few seconds browsing the internet and compiles massive lists of potential sources. “You already get a bunch of credible sources before you even start the research,” she said. “That's really cool.”

The research abilities of these AI programs are capable of streamlining the research process and saving students hours they would have spent digging through internet archives. Unfortunately, the chances that students are going to find and use a tool like Deep Research on their own are pretty slim, which is exactly why universities need to emphasize connecting students with these programs. 

While proficiency with AI can offer many advantages to students throughout college, AI literacy is also becoming an essential skill for graduating students to find success in their careers. The OpenAI study found that most employers would be more likely to hire a less experienced candidate if they possessed skills with artificial intelligence. If one of the primary goals of higher education is to prepare students for a successful career, universities should be prioritizing the AI literacy of their students. 

The concern about the negative impact of AI on critical thinking and higher education is legitimate. AI has already forced many educators to adapt how they approach teaching to combat the way chatbots have led to the normalization of academic dishonesty. Besides the threat to academic integrity that AI poses, the predictive nature of the algorithms it runs on can lead to students being fed misinformation. It is because of these weaknesses that higher education should take more steps to make students aware of AI’s shortcomings and prepare them to use the technology while avoiding the pitfalls of plagiarism and misinformation. 

Professor Tim Johnson is currently teaching Business 1301: Managing with Data, Analytics, and AI at Willamette University. He pointed out that at the current stage large language models are at, students need to have the ability to validate the information they receive from these bots. “There really is sort of a paradox of use right now, which is, you can't really use the tool unless you can double-check it,” Johnson said. Learning to use AI effectively and understanding its limitations are now essential skills for students as they graduate from college and enter the workforce. 

Johnson’s class is a great step towards incorporating AI into higher education, but most classes focused on AI at Willamette University are in the realm of advanced data and computer science, which only a small percentage of students will benefit from. Even though it is obviously essential for students studying these sciences to have a thorough understanding of artificial intelligence, AI is working its way into a greater variety of fields. When asked if she plans on incorporating the AI literacy skills she is learning now into her future career, DeSilva-Craycroft said, “I want to go into education — so definitely.”

While AI may help streamline some of the tedious aspects of studying, intentional incorporation of AI in the classroom must prioritize preserving the parts of higher education that foster critical thinking and creativity. Johnson gave the analogy that using AI as a replacement for original thought is like showing up to an Olympic running event on a motorcycle. “Yeah, you can propel yourself faster down the track on a motorcycle,” he said, “but nobody's interested in that because we want to see what humans can do.” If universities prepare students for the age of artificial intelligence while preserving the sanctity of original thought, higher education is poised to enter an exciting new era where technology will amplify the already incredible power of the human mind.