You’ve probably seen them during student support, while the teacher is presenting the instructional slides; wait, what are those? Are those…horses? Wearing Monte Vista merch? And why does that one have three legs?
Yes, your eyes are not deceiving you. Those are AI drawings of Monte Vista Mustangs, put in by none other than MV’s esteemed principal, Dr. Kevin Ahern.
“I just thought it’d be kind of fun to do something school spirited and that has to do with what we have going on here,” Ahern said. “It’s just meant to [be] fun … and have something more than just the regular old boring photos or drawings.”
Wacky and whimsical pictures, just like the one Ahern generated, are becoming more and more prevalent in this day and age. AI is used to generate art and answer simple questions. These days, students have started to implement AI in their schoolwork.
Despite the use of AI being widely frowned upon in many classrooms, teachers sometimes recommend using AI as a tool. Students use AI programs like ChatGPT to brainstorm ideas and create outlines, along with programs like Grammarly to edit their papers.
“I encourage [students] to try and use [AI],” said Cynthia Sevin, an AP Biology teacher. “I think [AI should be used] definitely for reference, but [students should] go in depth once they get the basic information from AI.”
Although some teachers are more lenient toward the use of AI as a tool, most prohibit its use during class time and do not condone using it for cheating. MV’s student honor code states that “Academic Dishonesty includes, but is not limited to the following: Plagiarizing or turning in any work as your own that is the work of another person or outside source including artificial intelligence.” Using AI to generate entire essays and to do whole assignments is extremely frowned upon and will result in punishment.
“I think, first and foremost, that if we don’t show the appropriate and ethical use of AI, we’re crippling [students] once [they] go outside of our walls here and go into the big world,” said Ahern.
Part of every student’s Google account is Gemini, Google’s advanced, multimodal AI models and AI chatbot. On every Google search, Gemini gathers information and summarizes the content into detailed AI Overviews. Although a capable program, Gemini’s information is not always entirely accurate and should not be used for important tasks.
“Our focus should really be on Gemini here, because that’s part of our Google Suite,” Ahern said. “Not to discourage students who want to use other types of AI, but for our school purposes, that’s what we’re going to focus on.”
For now, the use of AI in school is limited, but ever-evolving. Whether schools start to utilize or ban it from classrooms, only time will tell.
“I think it’s really important to take it slow and understand the parameters,” said Ahern. “But on the other hand, don’t allow AI to stop you from developing as a person and developing your work.”
Our top priority these days should be figuring out how to use AI in a way that’s meaningful and not taking away from human creativity, but also adding to what we are trying to share.
