We’ve all seen it, and it’s terrifying. And there’s nothing we can do to stop it, though I wish there was. 

Generative AI, such as ChatGPT and Gemini, has come a long way in these past few years. 

I once asked ChatGPT to seduce me in a caveman’s voice:

“Me caveman. You pretty. Me like. Fire in heart, like fire in cave. Grunt, grunt, love you.”

We were doomed. 

According to Thomas Ramge in “Who’s Afraid of AI?”, machine learning is so advanced that it can already identify certain cancer cells better than the best doctors in the world. Pretty scary, right? 

But it hasn’t always been so advanced. Just two years ago, GPT-3 famously said, in full, artificial confidence, that the giant squid was the largest animal on earth. Blue whales — three times larger and 400 times heavier —were outraged.

Even back in 2013, Oxford professors Michael Osborn and Carl Benedict Frey calculated that about half of all jobs in the United States would be “seriously threatened” by machine learning. Although there was some speculation about their methodology, their concerns sparked a necessary debate worldwide. Which fields will AI transform? 

Andrew Ng, a Stanford University professor and former head of the AI teams at Google and Baidu said, “It might be easier to think about what industries AI will not transform.”

As students seeking an occupation in this changing world, just what do we do?

I can tell you what skill all of us students use daily: writing. 

As an academic rule, never use generative AI to do your own work, especially your writing. 

We are paying for our classes. We are paying teachers to work with us at our own level. Show yourself and your future self-respect by getting the work done yourself. Take the time to make mistakes. Learn from them. Be shameless about them. Let others see you fail.

As students, we have to understand when machine assistance is useful for us and when it hinders our thinking. Letting a generative AI program write for you is not only replacing your thinking, it’s replacing your voice.

We are in college to learn critical thinking skills. Writing is planned thinking. I don’t mean to sound prescriptive or judgemental — trust me, I understand the temptation too — but we can’t give in.

Letting AI complete your work is the first step towards losing your autonomy — not to mention damaging your academic integrity.

And no, I’m not a UCA professor in disguise trying to dissuade the use of Generative AI in the classroom — what a “Scooby Doo” plot twist that would be though, huh?

Actually, UCA professors are urged not to prohibit generative AI in their classes. Teachers generally allow the use of AI within certain parameters, some even require it for coursework. 

Jen Talbot, professor of writing at UCA, said, “Generative AI is a thought partner. Don’t let it think for you.”

Generative AI can be a tool if used correctly. As a linguistics major, I use it to translate. 

You see? I’m using Generative AI to get more out of my education. It’s my thought partner.

Like most people, I have a belligerent and almost primitive attitude towards it, but it’s here, and it’s here to stay. What’s left to say?

Dear Generative AI, grunt, grunt. Love you.