AI ‘Does More Harm Than Good’ in the Classroom

Published: May 21, 2024

Artificial Intelligence ‘Does More Harm Than Good’ in the Classroom

By Movieguide® Contributor

While more teachers in schools across the nation have begun using artificial intelligence in their classes, they are also warning against the potential pitfalls of the technology.

A recent survey of 1,020 teachers found that “18 percent of K–12 teachers reported using AI for teaching and another 15 percent have tried AI at least once.”

However, with the increased use of AI, teachers are beginning to see the harmful effects the technology is having on students.

“A quarter of public K-12 teachers say using AI tools in K-12 education does more harm than good,” a Pew Research study of 2,531 U.S. public school K-12 teachers found. “About a third (32%) say there is about an equal mix of benefit and harm, while only 6% say it does more good than harm. Another 35% say they aren’t sure.”

The group “also used data from a separate survey of 1,453 U.S. teens conducted from Sept. 26 to Oct. 23, 2023” and found that high school students are willing to use ChatGPT on their assignments.

“19% say they have used it to help them with schoolwork,” Pew Research found. “About a quarter of 11th and 12th graders who have heard of ChatGPT (24%) say they have used it in their schoolwork, compared with 17% of 9th and 10th graders and 12% of 7th and 8th graders.”

Some students have even used ChatGPT to write entire papers. For those students, most of them are caught by their teachers and forced to re-do the essay or take a 0% on the assignment.

Alex Molnar, a director of the National Education Policy Center (NEPC) at CU Boulder, voiced his concerns about the tech in the classroom.

“What you have is a pocketful of promises that AI will deliver as promised,” said Molnar. “The problem is there is currently no way to independently evaluate the claims being made.”

He is calling for an “indefinite ‘pause’ in integrating AI into K-12 learning,” CU Boulder reported.

Movieguide® recently reported on the skepticism Christians have regarding AI:

A new survey concluded that Christians and people who read the Bible are more suspicious of artificial intelligence than the general public.

The American Bible Society’s State of the Bible survey examined how Bible-believing Christians feel about technology, specifically artificial intelligence.

The survey included four positive and four negative statements regarding AI and its effects on faith, the church and culture.

“The greatest levels of disagreement came on positive statements about AI’s spiritual and moral value (68% and 58%, respectively). Note that these weren’t only Christians saying that AI could not ‘promote spiritual health’ or ‘aid in moral reasoning.’ This was the general public. Those two statements also garnered the lowest levels of agreement (9% and 13%),” the survey reported.