If interviews with students tell us anything, it’s that an ever-growing number of students are turning to AI as a first resort for almost everything following OpenAI’s public release of ChatGPT in November 2022. All of this points to an “AI inevitability” in academia in terms of students assuming its fair use. The way students see it, many jobs and industries don’t care as much about the process—as opposed to the product—as we do in academia. Whether they are correct or not, students who believe this are likely to value AI-aware class environments that provide them opportunities to better learn how to responsibly use tools that could enable their promotion and professional advancement in postgraduate careers. Anything that makes college easier in the meantime is a bonus.
