AI, Ethics and You (opinion)

"It's startling how many of the first type have never really tried out AI (just ask). And it's disheartening how many self-proclaimed innovators don't seem to realize how many of their students are relying on AI in non-pedagogically sanctioned ways. As a bright, articulate student responded when I asked why she'd rely on such assistance, 'Well, it's there.'"

"The postings then split into two types: Gloom-and-doom academics wringing their collective hands over how this Frankenstein device was going to wreck education. Cheerful, self-congratulatory types who had somehow managed to implement AI in the classroom and could hardly wait to tell everyone."

"As AI became both pandemic and the new normal, two new voices entered the discussion: A new type of old-time professor who claimed to have solved the AI issue by either restricting all student work to in-class responses on paper or by seducing their students with the pleasures of reading and writing. A larger-picture pseudo pundit (rarely with any relevant credentials) who had a lot to say about ethics and the proper use of AI."

Universities increasingly grapple with AI integration across education, generating polarized responses. Early skepticism about AI's capabilities has shifted as technology improved significantly. Academic discourse now splits between pessimists warning of educational collapse and optimists celebrating classroom implementation, yet many in both camps lack genuine AI experience. Simultaneously, restrictive professors attempt to eliminate AI through paper-only assessments while self-proclaimed experts debate ethics without relevant credentials. Students pragmatically use AI tools regardless of institutional stance. The reality reveals that extreme positions—whether prohibitive or celebratory—fail to address the complex landscape where AI has become normalized in academic environments.

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