Spencer Wells

AI as a tool, Not a Crutch

07 May 2024

I. Introduction

I personally do use AI in my day to day life. I often use it for educational purposes as well. That being said, I don’t rely on it for answers or understanding. Rather I use it as a tool to assist with my learning and understanding of specific problems or concepts. AI right now isn’t always going to give you the right or correct answer to all your questions, and it’s important to keep that in mind and critically analyze what AI is providing you.

II. Personal Experience with AI:

I have used AI in class this semester in the following areas:

  1. Experience WODs e.g. E18 I have not used any form of artificial intelligence for this class’s experince WODs. The provided screencasts were more than helpful enough to complete the assigned experiences.

  2. In-class Practice WODs I have not used any form of artificial intelligence for the in-class practice WODs.

  3. In-class WODs I have not used any form of artificial intelligence for the in-class WODs. The simple reason being that I viewed the WODs as an assessment and a test of my knowledge. While the use of AI was accepted and allowed during the In-class WODs, I wanted the extra challenge

  4. Essays I have used AI for some of the essays written in this class. My use of AI however was only for miscellaneous things such as spelling or grammer errors I may have made. It played no role in the actual content creation of the essays.

  5. Final project I have used AI for the final project. Whenever I ran into issues with my code not functioning as expected, I would ask ChatGPT to take a look at the code and what I want it to do. Most of the time the code solution it provides never works, but I more so was relying on ChatGPT to point me in the right direction to where the code may not be functioning as I expected.

  6. Learning a concept / tutorial I have used AI to help explain a few concepts discussed in this course. One of the concepts being the design patterns.

  7. Answering a question in class or in Discord I have not used AI to answer a question in class or in the Discord.

  8. Asking or answering a smart-question I have not used AI to ask or answer a smart-question.

  9. Coding example e.g. “give an example of using Underscore .pluck” I can’t quite remember, but I believe I had asked AI for a coding example. It’s been a while since underscore was first introduced to us, but I feel like I have asked for a coding example of at least one underscore function.

  10. Explaining code I have used AI to explain code, specifically for someone else’s code for the final project that I was trying to understand.

  11. Writing code I have not used any form of AI to write code for me.

  12. Documenting code I have not used any form of AI to document code.

  13. Quality assurance I have not used any form of AI for the purpose of quality assurance.

  14. Other uses in ICS 314 not listed above I have not used AI for any other purpose than the ones listed above.

III. Impact on Learning and Understanding:

AI has a huge impact on learning and understanding, serving as a powerful resource that can have positive and negative impacts. While AI offers good access to information and personalized learning experiences, there is a risk of over-reliance, where students may prioritize finding quick answers over deeper understandings. Additionally, AI’s accuracy is not perfect. The responses provided are often filled with inaccuracies that can lead learners astray if not critically evaluated. While AI can supplement learning by providing valuable resources and insights, fostering critical thinking skills and encouraging a balanced approach to its use are essential to ensure that students truly understand and retain knowledge.

IV. Practical Applications:

AI has various real-world projects and collaborative activities beyond our ICS 314 class. In healthcare, AI is utilized for assist radiologists in diagnosing diseases like cancer more accurately and efficiently. In finance, AI algorithms are employed for fraud detection and risk management, enabling people to identify suspicious activities and mitigate potential losses. Additionally, AI chatbots and virtual assistants are increasingly being integrated into customer service systems to provide personalized support and streamline communication processes.

V. Challenges and Opportunities:

A lot of the code provided by ChatGPT regarding software engineering are just straight up incorrect/doesn’t actually function as described which I feel is the biggest issue right now. An enhancement to this issue might be to have a program that the AI is able to run code in to verify how well it works before providing it to a user.

VI. Comparative Analysis:

Traditional teaching methods rely on lectures, texbooks, hands-on projects, and the availability of the teacher to impart knowledge and skills onto students. These methods offer a very structured approach but may struggle to accommodate the individual needs for each student. AI-enhanced approaches may include personalized learning platforms, adaptive learning systems, immersive and interactive experiences like VR etc. These approaches can be used to enhance the learning experience for students, but ensuring the quality and reliability of AI-driven educational tools is quite difficult. Finding a balance between technology and traditional teaching may become crucial for optimizing learning outcomes in education.

VII. Future Considerations:

Future learning can be enhanced and personalized through the use of AI which can tailor educational content and experiences to individual students’ needs and learning styles. Some challenges such as a lack of transparency of how AI decisions are made can build distrust in educational settings. There’s also the ethical considerations with AI applications with regards to privacy and data security. We must ensure that AI technologies are being used responsibly and ethically in software engineering education. Areas of improvement when it comes to AI should always include accuracy and correctness in responses.

VIII. Conclusion:

As we navigate the integration of AI into software engineering education, it’s important to recognize its role as a tool rather than a crutch in which people rely on to get things done. While AI offers opportunities for personalized learning and enhanced understanding, it also presents challenges with the accuracy of its responses, ethical considerations, security risks, etc. Moving forward, we must look to address these challenges while maximizing the potential of AI.