I think about how just last year, I was being introduced to AI for the first time. Now, I am learning how to implement it in a productive way in the classroom. I was originally terrified of AI, and maybe I still am. I never thought I would come to a place where I consider allowing and implementing AI as an instructor.

As I have read and researched more about it, I have come to a place where I am very open to the idea of implementing AI in the classroom. There’s many reasons for this, but to start off, let me give a real-world example of why my mind has changed in accepting new technologies.

I worked at McDonalds for a good portion of my life. I was there to experience the introduction of kiosks, a self-serve option for customers to electronically insert their order. No need to talk to a cashier. Frequently, I would have people approach me and say things along the line of “Well you know these things are taking your jobs”. All I could think was, “Well I’m still here, so I’m not sure about that”. I viewed anti-kiosk people as old fashioned, technology haters who were delusional about the new world we were living in. Now I see that they were just afraid.

I use this example to demonstrate because the introduction of new, scary technologies does not deem the old way of doing things unnecessary. AI is not pushing out teachers, simply because AI does not teach. If we, as instructors, resist AI to the point where we are not learning with it, it will move past us. Students will use it continuously without a second thought, our job is to teach them to have those second thoughts when it comes to AI. If we are open-minded and show our students that there are acceptable avenues to take with AI, they will not write as off as useless, technology haters. They will not depend on AI for everything because we will teach them why we shouldn’t.

Particularly, I think about the reading Promoting Ethical Artificial Intelligence Literacy with Generative AI Tools Like ChatGPT, In this reading, we see undergraduate students learning to explore AI through their instructors and having conversations about it. This is because, “…having regular and honest discussions with students about Generative AI tools has helped us position ourselves as figures of trust, and we have found that students often want to know how they can use these tools ethically to help them improve their lives and work.” (4). We have to trust students are not always just looking for the easy way out of things, and we need to allow them to trust us when it comes to AI.

The reading demonstrates a way to engage students with AI and allowing them to have discussions on when it works and when it doesn’t. If we build a foundation with out students of “DO NOT USE AI, IT’S TAKING OUR JOBS!”, students will still use it for most things, and probably get away with it. If we approach out students with “Let’s see where AI works and where it doesn’t”, more often than not they will start to avoid AI in places they see it falls short.

I understand the distaste, fear, and hesitance in using AI. There are a lot of ethical issues in terms of when to use AI and how we use it, but we have to learn it. Ignoring AI in the classroom or expressing our distaste will only cause us to fall behind it, and eventually it could take our jobs. We will be those people who can’t figure out an IPhone. We don’t have to accept everything about AI, but we have to learn it and help our students learn it as well, in hopes the next generation does not let it teach them everything.