The Real Problem Isn’t AI—It’s How Schools Are Reacting to It
The rise of AI reveals a bigger truth: our schools need to evolve or risk leaving students behind.
Recently, it’s been revealed that thousands of students in the UK had been caught cheating with AI tools. During the 2023–2024 school year, approximately 7,000 students were caught using AI for schoolwork without permission. That’s roughly 5.1 students per 1,000 using AI, up from just 1.6 per 1,000 the previous year. Many of these students ended up receiving zero marks, failed modules, or failed courses, severely impacting their careers for the rest of their lives.
With AI tools becoming more and more prevalent, it’s becoming increasingly harder for students to resist using AI tools. But is it necessarily a bad thing?
Data gathered from What Impact Has AI Had On Education?
AI Isn’t the Problem
As you can see, there's an inverse relationship between the number of students using AI and the number of students caught plagiarizing. When AI-generated content had a 76% increase, papers containing plagiarized content had a 51% decrease. If it were up to me, I would rather students use AI than copy someone else’s work.
Why?
Well, it’s because in the real world, plagiarism is illegal and in extreme cases, can put you in jail for up to 10 years. Using AI, on the other hand, is not only legal but is also encouraged by many influencers and corporate executives.
Even if plagiarism weren’t an issue, I still believe student use of AI is ultimately beneficial to society. With studies suggesting that up to 80% of jobs could soon be automated, it feels disingenuous to discourage students from using the very tools that will shape their futures. Instead of demonizing AI, we should be encouraging students to interact with it, helping them develop the skills they’ll inevitably rely on in their careers.
My Thoughts:
As a student, I can empathize with many of these cheaters, not saying that I’ve used AI in the past, but I know many people who have used it and benefited from it. I understand the rationale behind it. It’s like a cheat code where you can immediately skip a few levels in a video game. In many competitive schools, there has been a growing division lately between students who use AI to attain better grades, versus students who haven’t been using AI. The latter often find themselves falling behind, not because they’re less capable, but because they lack access to the same tools(AI). It feels quite unfair, especially when missing out on career-defining opportunities comes down to whether or not someone used AI.
Instead, I believe schools should encourage the use of AI.
Encouraging the use of AI in education opens up far more opportunities for students to learn and engage with class material. Speaking from experience, I’ve had teachers who made learning incredibly difficult, and AI became the tool that helped me stay afloat, guiding me through each lesson. It's a powerful resource, but schools need to allow students to embrace AI, not take away from it.
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