Could Artificial Intelligence (AI) have written this article? Considering the trailblazing work that machine-learning companies have done, it is becoming more difficult to answer that question, and one may never know the true answer.
AI usage within higher education arguably has a bad reputation due to excessive and oftentimes bold usage from students. Before AI entered mainstream utilization, students who did not want to do their own work would hire other individuals to write essays, do math homework or even cheat on tests. However, the image of cheating and how students do it has changed dramatically.
A new Wiley survey found that in 2024, around 96% of instructors believe that at least some of their students cheated over the past year, illustrating the increasing concerns from faculty about the advent of AI in higher education.
Yet, while student usage of AI has been heavily discussed, one often overlooked area of discussion is how faculty uses this technology. Could AI be revolutionary in reframing how our instructors teach their courses? Or would it just be another tech gimmick that is overhyped and rejected like a used toy?
Because of AI’s negative perception, many fail to how they can benefit from AI. In today’s landscape, AI has been used by some colleges and universities to enhance retention rates through welfare-checking chatbots and AI-generated emails that remind students about deadlines, registration and upcoming tests.
Professors can utilize AI to help students work around their busy schedules. Students often have confusing schedules with each class having its own myriad of deadlines, assignments and tests.
College students are constantly facing issues coping with negative emotions due to workload. AI as a method of intervention in universities could help curb this. In 2010, the Tacoma, Washington, school district was facing an academic decline with a 55% graduation rate among high schoolers. However, an article by The Tech Edvocate says that by 2014 the district managed to improve the rate to 78% with the help of machine learning, a subset of AI. Azure Machine Learning, the machine learning model, utilized data on demographics and academic performance uploaded by administrators to provide insight into what students were at a particular risk of dropping out.
AI can be a treasure chest of potential benefits for students. However, to avoid harmful usage like cheating, university leaders should seriously analyze AI and create clear guidelines for its usage. Beyond student usage, AI also has untapped potential for supporting the faculty themselves.
One major area where faculty could use AI to their benefit is workload. A CUPA-HR survey on retention rates finds that in higher education, there is increasing work dissatisfaction coming from faculty members. “Faculty burnout” due to workload has become increasingly prevalent as they struggle to manage the range of expectations across teaching, research and service according to Watermark Insights.
However, an article by the New York Times says ChatGPT has been found in K-12 schools to help write personalized lesson plans, generate ideas for class assignments and serve as an after-school tutor. While higher education’s curriculum is arguably more complex, with the exponential growth coming from AI capabilities, faculty members should look into the potential usage of AI to help streamline many of their activities to save time and allow them to focus on bigger and more important tasks.
It is crucial for faculty retention that universities consider approaches to improve the efficiency of work processes and reduce workloads so that professors can focus on meaningful aspects of education like engagement with students.
While AI could serve as a catalyst for efficiency, the actual reality of its impact is more mixed. According to EdWeek Research Center, in secondary education, two out of three teachers reported that do not use artificial intelligence, citing a myriad of reasons such as lack of knowledge or being occupied with other issues.
Like how a compass would operate in a maze, AI can serve as a tool for direction and guidance, but the question remains whether or not it can address the core problems that faculty faces today.
When asked how he believes AI will shape higher education in the next 30 years, professor of history and director of British studies Christopher Snyder of the Mississippi State University Honors College said he thinks society will have to face the negative outcomes first, then the actual positive outcomes of AI.
“We [society] will experience a lot of negatives before we achieve the true positives,” Snyder said.
This points out that despite the growth coming from this field, AI is still very much new.
“In terms of efficiency, higher education is not about efficiency or the shortest route, but the journey to the truth,” Snyder said.
While it seems that AI is unlikely to replace professors anytime soon, many higher education faculty members are taking a more defensive approach when it comes to welcoming artificial intelligence.
I asked ChatGPT’s 4o model’s “genuine personal opinion to the effect of AI in higher education without influence of current literature,” and it responded, “I think AI should be treated as a complement to — not a replacement for — human teaching, mentorship and research.”
Regardless of its level of sentience, the model’s message is clear, and I agree. AI is clearly the future, and regardless of the mixed opinions that members of the education system would hold, AI will be part of our lives, and its role is constantly increasing.
We should have proper conversations on the future of AI. MSU has already taken steps to provide AI-assisted resources for faculty members, but I believe it is important for the instructors themselves to take the extra initiative in seeing how this groundbreaking technology could potentially revolutionize their work.
In the words of ChatGPT, AI should “empower teaching, not replace it.”
