For better or for worse, generative artificial intelligence (AI) is here to stay. With an AI overview at the top of every Google page, Meta AI in the Instagram search bar and the new Apple Intelligence summarizing text messages, we’ve long since passed the point where we can just ignore it. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the classroom.
Many professors fear that ChatGPT is writing essays in place of students. This fear drastically underestimates the ways students use AI. Students are having LLMs summarize and explain their course readings, and even using them to come up with responses during real-time class discussions.
Many students have conflicting opinions on the ethics and consequences of AI use for classwork. English and History student Katie Fullerton SC ’28, reflected on how she has seen the technology affect student engagement.
“I feel like it defeats the purpose of reading,” Fullerton said. “You want to interpret the work by yourself, so you can come to your own conclusions.”
With AI’s growing popularity and addictiveness, professors are faced with a choice: embrace it or reject it. However, many professors have vastly different perspectives on how to implement AI policies, and this has left students juggling varying criteria for each of their classes.
“I feel like there [are] so many mixed feelings,” Fullerton said. “Some professors are totally pro-AI, and they’re like ‘use this as a resource, it’s wonderful, it’ll help you learn, it’s so powerful,’ and then other professors are totally anti-AI and see no benefit in using it, some professors are like ‘use it, but use it sparingly and wisely.’”
Based on student observation, it seems as though professors in STEM departments tend to be more open to incorporating AI into their curricula, while humanities professors tend to prefer to keep it out of the classroom. Caoilainn Christensen PO ’27, a computer science and cognitive science student, spoke about her experience in her Minds & Machines class. She described performing experiments using the Turing test — Alan Turing’s foundational test of computer intelligence — on different artificial intelligence chatbots as a way to study the development of AI. According to the Turing test, if a computer can successfully fool a human being into thinking it is conscious and intelligent, then it is.
Students in humanities classes report a different experience. Jessica Zhang PO ’29, a Middle Eastern Studies and International Relations student, reflected on the lack of AI in her humanities courses.
“I’ve not yet encountered a class where generative AI was incorporated into the syllabus, but I’ve heard about it from friends who are taking less humanities-centered courses,” Zhang said.
For the professors who don’t want generative AI in their classrooms, it’s not as simple as writing “No AI” on the syllabus. Anti-AI policies are notoriously difficult to enforce, with AI detectors often providing inaccurate results. As AI evolves, its writing style is only becoming more difficult to identify, and papers aren’t the only thing students use it for.
“Unfortunately, sometimes I see kids typing into ChatGPT in the middle of class,” Fullerton said. “The professor will ask a question, and then kids will type in the exact question into ChatGPT and then look at the answers.”
Since teachers cannot realistically monitor all online activity, it’s impractical to ban AI without completely banning computers. So, professors have begun banning computers.
More and more, professors are restricting the use of tablets and laptops in class. Rather than relying on PDFs posted to Canvas, professors are assembling physical course readers, which they require students to bring to class. Some are even substituting large-scale papers for in-class written exams to ensure that students don’t use AI for major assignments.
This leads to some classrooms feeling more strictly regulated, with the level of professor-student trust having decreased significantly.
Many students struggle with the idea that educational progress might look like a step backward, especially as rapid technological change reshapes the classroom. Zhang has taken two courses with Professor Daniel Watling and observed this significant cultural shift throughout her time with him.
“[In] my second semester, I’ve noticed he’s changed from the first semester,” Zhang said. “Everything is now on paper; we can’t use computers in class.”
One downside of the strict no-technology policy is the increased cost to students, who now have to purchase expensive course readers instead of relying on free PDFs they once accessed online. However, many feel the added expense is worth it, arguing that these changes are necessary to preserve academic integrity — some even strongly prefer the life of the paperback.
Zhang is among the many who value a classroom without technology.
“I prefer this over a crowd of people with their laptops open,” Zhang said.
It’s unclear how AI will continue to impact college campuses. It’s unlikely that there will ever be a perfect solution that can embrace technological progress while encouraging student effort and curiosity. It’s possible that as this technology develops, professors will continue to impose stricter regulations on the ways students engage with their courses. It’s also possible that AI will develop to a point where no classroom policies can prevent its use.
There are many reasons people dislike AI, and Christensen points out two of the biggest.
“I think that it’s important that people be mindful of their AI use, both for environmental reasons and because the purpose of college is to learn,” Christensen said. “Using AI to do your assignments is defeating the reason why you’re paying a lot of money to be here.”
AI has become an inescapable part of life at the Claremont Colleges. It’s impossible to study at the library without seeing multiple screens open to ChatGPT, and it’s not uncommon to overhear students in the dining halls debating which chatbot is the most helpful.
Students, much like the professors, carry a host of different opinions on the matter — some consider this an amazing feat of science, others worry it may have a terrible impact on higher education. Regardless of personal opinion, it’s clear that AI will continue to dominate classroom conversations for years to come.
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