“Hey, Siri! What’s the weather like today?” “Hey, Alexa. Play me a song.”

These looked harmless but they were the epitome of A.I infiltrating our lives, bringing value to them. We did not complain back then. However, nowadays we are hearing voices of concern with the emergence of various A.I tool taking over our daily routines.

A.I has been around us for a while now, but we did not realize it till it impacted our lives in ways we can only imagine. The latest A.I in town that has caused such as stir is ChatGPT, an A.I that has been taunted to replace Google. Only a few days before this article is written, ChatGPT made the headlines as it passed a Wharton MBA final exam, the United States Medical Licensing, and components of the bar exam. It is postulated that it showcased high levels of consistency and insights in its explanation. What more to expect from something that has unlimited resources at its disposal? Reading that felt like an insult to the education fraternity and definitely a demoralizing statement. But, that is a winning war cry from scientists championing artificial intelligence. Should I, an educator be a sore loser and write things off and criticize them? That got me thinking, thus this article exists.

Why am I writing this? This is where the debate gets interesting among educators. Is A.I here to elevate the quality of life or will it destroy the critical values and beliefs that a student should possess? Thus, is it an artificial intelligence to support human intelligence or will it be affecting intelligence leaving mankind to be doomed for life? In the early stages of A.I emerging, nothing is certain. But, we have learned from history that stopping it will make no impact.

Yes! Most A.I cannot sustain itself as it needs human intelligence to develop itself. But, at what point can it achieve independence of thoughts to overcome its intelligence limitations? How long do we have before we are fully dependent on A.I in our daily work? How long will it be before students will be handing us work and essays written by robots? How can we, educators face this war against the smartest enemies we have ever battled? Or do we succumb to them? Let’s face reality. We, as educators are nowhere near being prepared when it comes to being face-to-face with A.I. Thus, if we cannot fight our enemies, should we keep them closer to us instead?

Rather than forbidding our students from using ChatGPT or other artificial intelligence, isn’t it better if we introduce them to our students as educators? You may think I have lost my mind for inviting our enemy into our classroom. But hear me out for once. Forbidding our students will only increase their curiosity to try it out. But, if we introduce it and use it healthily in the classrooms, students will be able to churn out better results by using A.I as a substantial support in the classroom, rather than the primary source. Educators can guide their students on how A.I can support their thoughts, and debate on issues to see both sides of a coin before writing an essay and also to provide an alternative to a solution discussed in the classroom. I think it is time responsibilities are given to our students on how they can manage themselves and their quest for knowledge.

I am saying this based on my experience. There was a time I was clueless about understanding a concept. Books were rarely helpful and teachers were the only source. The Internet was not flooded with information as it is today, thus I was stuck in between wanting to know and not having the tools to know. Guess, I was just born a generation earlier. If I were who I was 10 years ago today, life would be a luxury for me. I would be swimming in the elixir of knowledge and satisfying my hunger for knowledge in the best way possible. But, there is no point in thinking about that. Maybe we can do something to support many more like me who are suppressed by old-age policies irrelevant in today’s world. A.I can be an artificial intelligence acting as a support system or it can affect the intelligence of humankind. It all depends on how it is used and applied. Therefore, I believe the educators have another added task on our never-ending checklist: To bring peace between A.I and humans allowing intelligence to flourish and bloom. How can we make it happen? I don’t know.

Written by The Accidental Teacher