Using artificial intelligence to study is not necessarily cheating. You could use it to explain certain topics, make notes for revision, practise questions, and to help organise your ideas.
However, if you use the same technology to complete a piece of work you are meant to be completing yourself, it can cross a line. What this line is depends on your school's policy, what the task is, and how you use the tool.
Being aware of these lines can help you not only get the most out of your AI tool, but also protect your own learning, develop key skills, and preserve academic integrity.
How You Can Use AI to Make Studying More Effective
AI can be used to aid learning without it being a crutch for students to rely on. This could be by asking it to explain concepts that are not understood, asking it to break down a passage, asking it to make practice questions, or even asking it for ways to format your revision notes.
An AI flashcard generator can also be used to make question-and-answer flashcards out of your notes to practice without just re-reading them over and over.
These methods of using AI promote productive studying habits such as actively trying to remember something when cross-checking answers or using flashcards. But it's important to view AI as a tool to help your studies, not the source of your knowledge.
How You Can Distinguish Helpful AI Support From Cheating
The fine line between using AI responsibly and using AI to cheat depends on the purpose and the help you need with the task.
Using it to explain the mathematical formula that will be used before trying to solve the tasks on your own will help you learn. However, using it to write out the answers to an essay that has a grade attached to it and turning it in as your own work would be considered cheating according to most rules.
A teacher might review a student essay for possible AI use if they suspect that the essay has been generated. You should understand whether a task measures your learning process, your independent performance, or both.
What You Need to Know About Your School’s AI Policy
Some schools allow the use of AI for brainstorming and revising but not for answers on tests or independent work. Some have varying levels of allowance for different subjects, assessments, and grade levels.
Therefore, your school's academic integrity policy is the best place to start if you're unsure whether you should use AI for your needs.
Read the policy instead of assuming that something allowed in one class is fair game in another. If the policy isn't clear, ask your teacher about what you should do.
This way, you can eliminate confusion and protect yourself from an unfair academic integrity violation.
How Your School Can Set Clear and Consistent AI Rules
Schools should help avoid confusion by providing guidance on the use of AI before students are given assessment work, while making a distinction between what is acceptable and what is not.
Teachers need to be able to explain what students should and shouldn't do if they do end up using an AI tool, whether students need to notify their teachers if they do, which tools, if any, are approved, or what repercussions there might be for the use or the lack thereof.
This is important because students can get confused by different standards in different classes, as well as not having a correct understanding of what they can and can't do.
Schools should reevaluate their guidance as these programs become more common, and give examples that most schools would likely consider acceptable, or not, to help students make better decisions and not rely on word of mouth or speculation.
How You Can Use AI Without Losing Your Own Voice
AI can help you build ideas up, but the work you submit should demonstrate the learning being assessed. You could ask for feedback on whether your introduction is clear, ask for an explanation of a grammatical concept, or research various ways to structure an argument.
However, allowing AI to write your essay will keep you from learning how to practice the necessary skills.
You are the one who makes decisions, builds an argument, and expresses your thoughts in your own words; you should do these tasks yourself, unless otherwise noted by your teacher.
Where you are allowed to use AI, make sure you express what you want the assistance with, and follow your teacher's guidance on how to show that you have used their guidance.
How You Can Recognise the Difference Between Editing and Rewriting
Using a spelling checker or asking an AI to detect unclear sentences is probably fine if your assignment allows for language help. Asking it to replace your argument with a polished and fully formed response is a whole other can of worms.
Editing and rewriting are not always treated as the same thing when it comes to academic integrity, which is why this distinction is so important to keep in mind when teachers evaluate your writing ability, reasoning, or language skills.
Before implementing a ton of suggestions, ask yourself if you're improving work you actually made or if you're submitting work that no longer reflects your skill level. If you aren't sure, ask your teacher what kind of editing they allow.
How You Can Prepare for Exams Without Crossing the Line
For exam preparation, a student can ask for practice questions, request clarification, and receive feedback to discover gaps in their knowledge and improve their revision. They can also answer the questions themselves and compare their answers to the explanations.
This allows you to identify weak areas ahead of your test or quiz. However, asking for AI assistance during a closed-book assessment or requesting it to complete a restricted take-home exam could be considered cheating.
Therefore, you should always differentiate between preparation for an evaluation and receiving prohibited help during it.
How Your Teachers Can Evaluate Possible AI-Generated Work Fairly
Teachers can't be completely sure about everything that students write. Sometimes, AI checkers can detect which parts of the students' essays need a closer examination, but that doesn't mean that they cheated. Sometimes, human writing can be falsely detected, and AI can be undetected.
Therefore, it would make sense to take into account what the student was working on and when, any evidence that the student may have presented, etc.
No one should be accused of cheating just because an AI detected something. It has to be thoroughly analyzed, and the teacher has to take into account everything that they already know about the students.
How You Can Respond to Concerns About AI Detection
If your teacher asks you questions about using AI incorrectly, explain to them the process of your work. Your notes, outlines, document history, drafts, and sources can serve as great evidence of your explanation.
Additionally, you may want to describe what tools you have used, what help they have given you, and what checks you have made for accuracy. All of these will be needed since one cannot simply rely on the submitted draft as the ultimate source of information.
I think it is best if you do not create fake drafts or alter any of the evidence the teacher has found. You should work with them and ask what particular evidence has raised their suspicion. A responsible teacher would give you a chance to explain the situation.
How You Can Use AI to Check Facts and Deepen Understanding
AI-generated explanations on certain topics could be very convincing even if they are mostly wrong or include fabricated information.
As a student, it is important that you verify the information provided by an AI with your own research and understanding using your course materials such as your textbook, class notes, other reference materials, and resources provided by the teacher.
Always make sure that anything that an AI tells you to be true can be backed up by a reliable source. This way, even if the information provided by the AI is wrong, you won’t end up learning incorrect information.
To avoid getting misled or misinformed by an AI, it is vital that you fact-check and research any answers given by an AI.
Final Thoughts
Using AI to do your schoolwork is not necessarily cheating, as long as you adhere to the rules and guidelines of your specific institution and ensure that the assistance AI provides you does not negate your own efforts and understanding.
You can use AI to help you learn and understand a topic, and then apply your own knowledge to an assignment.
When in doubt, ask your instructor about their specific concerns and rules regarding AI. Remember to research, fact-check, and protect your data and personal information, and to credit the AI assistance when due.
By being smart and considerate in your use of AI, you can make sure that your academic integrity and accomplishments are not undermined by the convenient answers it can provide.