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More students are using AI to complete schoolwork. How can teachers stop it?

Over half of students surveyed by BestColleges said they use AI tools on college coursework or exams.
Laptop open with homework assignment and a smartphone open to ChatGPT.
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As students head back to school, teachers and professors are learning how to navigate the world of artificial intelligence in the classroom.

More students are using AI tools like ChatGPT to complete their work and, in some cases, cheat and plagiarize. Over half of students surveyed by BestColleges said they use AI tools on college coursework or exams.

Jose Antonio Bowen, who served in leadership roles at four colleges and universities and co-authored "Teaching With AI," spoke with Scripps News about how teachers should address AI in their classrooms.

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Bowen said what educators need to do is change their approach to the tool. “What teachers call cheating, businesses often call progress,” said Bowen, comparing the AI revolution to the launch of the internet.

Bowen said not incorporating AI in the classroom is a disservice to students who may need to learn to use it in the workforce. He made the analogy between AI generators and calculators. While students still learn how to do math without a calculator, adding the tool later on helps them to focus on other tasks.

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The most important thing with AI is figuring out how to use it in a way that makes humans responsible for the output, Bowen concluded.

Click the video to see the full interview.