UC Davis students and graduates discuss AI in the classroom
Students describe AI as a tool to use sparingly, if at all
By NAREN KRISHNA JEGAN — science@theaggie.org
The prevalence of artificial intelligence (AI) models and AI’s capabilities has skyrocketed since ChatGPT’s debut in late 2022. While early models were text-only chatbots trained with limited information, current models are capable of reading emails, scouring the internet or generating movies from scratch. As a result, AI has inserted itself into many careers and areas of study.
The California Aggie surveyed UC Davis students and graduates to understand how AI may be used in the classroom. Among anonymous respondents who agreed to have their answers published, skepticism of AI emerged as a common trend.
One UC Davis graduate shared their concerns about letting AI replace individual thought.
“You shouldn't use AI to think for you,” they said. “We're here to learn, not to have an AI bot predict what we might have said. AI is a hindrance to learning. It thinks for you. If you let it think for you, then you're giving up developing your own humanity.”
A third-year student described how they use models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude sparingly.
“I prefer not to rely on it if I can, only using it when I feel backed into a corner,” they said. “I personally believe that it should be a more selective tool, more akin to a scalpel that has to be used with precision, rather than the scattershot of answers it currently provides.”
A second-year student shared that they avoid AI on purpose, encountering it only occasionally through the AI-generated summaries in Google search results.
“I personally don’t use it because of individual ethical, environmental and intellectual reasons, but in other people I respect it more when it’s being used to explain concepts or generate study tools rather than used to generate pieces of writing or plain answers with no explanation,” they said.
They highlighted that, to them, moderate, responsible use is key.
“I believe it has benefits when used carefully and responsibly, in moderation, by people who have researched all the consequences of using generative AI,” they said. “I’m [going to] be honest, that doesn’t apply to the vast majority of students and teachers using it right now.”
Even with careful use, the student expressed concerns over privacy and data security.
“I think it could become really useful in some ways, but right now it’s too unregulated, and we don’t know enough about its environmental impacts, data privacy and dangers to be using it however we want.”
In this survey, the most frequently reported uses of AI were fixing grammar and proofreading, preparing for exams and researching specific topics for papers or labs.
Another second-year student shared how AI has some utility in their job searching.
“I mainly use AI for finding opportunities for my career and helping me draft writing emails, applications, minor homework assignments, etc,” they said. “I prefer to not utilize AI when it requires personal information or it would be quicker to complete the task myself.”
They continued, making a distinction between when using AI could benefit users.
“It can be both a great learning tool and hindrance depending on how the user utilizes the AI,” they said. “If you know what you’re looking for, you can optimize the AI to better reach your goals. Conversely, if you’re unaware of your goals, AI might base its decisions/results on data not pertaining to you.
Across all student responses, the message was consistent: AI shouldn't replace students doing their own thinking. Even those who use AI described it as a tool for narrow tasks, such as proofreading, studying or finding opportunities, rather than a substitute for learning.
Written by: Naren Krishna Jegan — science@theaggie.org