As school starts up again, the stress of college applications enters the minds of seniors and staff. With the overuse of artificial intelligence, students start to rely on it like [Chat GPT, Gauth Ai, Photomath, etc]. Many students find AI to be helpful and an easier way to expand their work.
Senior Breanne Dolph and counselor Tim Mann share their concerns about the overuse of artificial intelligence and how it could potentially affect seniors when thinking about what they want to major in.
“I wouldn’t say that jobs are being fully taken over by AI, but I’d definitely say that they are being somewhat overused in the workforce,” Dolph said. “Personally, I have never experienced AI taking over something I’m trying to major in, but only because my major [forensic science]can’t really be done without a physical person,”
While students like Dolph view AI as a lesser concern, depending on their career choice, counselors are seeing the technology’s influence more directly in the way students prepare for college and think about their futures.
“We have to be cautious about how much we use AI. For example, there was a study by MIT that was published recently that shows brain scans reduce neural activity and connectivity in areas linked to critical thinking and memory for those using AI to write,” Mann said. “Participants also showed poor recall of this content and potential for cognitive debt, where reliance on AI may diminish critical inquiry and creativity. That study highlighted the need for balanced AI use, particularly for developing brains.”
Although some students feel their career paths may be safe from AI, students like Dolph caution that the real concern lies in how technology may shape the way students think, learn, and apply to jobs.
“I’m not sure of the exact percentage of jobs that have been recently filled with AI positions, but I think that they could potentially take a lot of people’s work away if AI becomes even more common and developed,” Dolph said.
As the school year begins to pick up in pace, students and staff are more prone to start using AI, as AI creates a faster and easier way to form an essay. For example, AI is not just used inside the classroom; it is also being used in the workforce to improve the speed and overall product production in general. Using AI to fabricate a whole essay is faster and easier, but does not improve your understanding, while using it to gain ideas on how to improve your writing will improve your understanding. Mann addresses the direction in which artificial intelligence is developing and considers its broader consequences for society
“It’s really hard to tell where we’re headed as a society, and what effect AI is going to have [on society]. Along with how it’s going to affect the job market,” Mann said.
With AI being such an unpredictable territory, it is hard to know where it is headed. Using your own understanding instead of AI to “get it over with” is not an easy skill to learn. Mann gives a great example of when to use your own brain and when it is okay to use artificial intelligence.
“If students overuse it, they’re going to have issues with their cognitive faculties and being able to know themselves and know the world and figure out which path is the best way to go,” Mann said.
With the progressive development of AI, human labor will be needed less as a majority of things can be done mechanically or robotically, the need for humans would be less necessary, meaning thousands of people’s jobs would be filled by AI. Dolph says how she feels about how some occupations are potentially being taken over by artificial intelligence.
“It is possible, but I wouldn’t say in the near future. Some things could be done with the help of AI, but definitely not anything in particular being fully taken over by AI anytime soon,” Dolph said.
