A short survey filled out by Roseville Area High School students and staff members throughout the first weeks of February gathered 286 responses about Artificial Intelligence, how they use it, and their reaction to these new technological developments.

Prevalence of AI at RAHS

According to this survey, over half of the respondents said they do not use AI in general. Overwhelmingly, in fact, 52.4% of responses said “no” and only 38.8% said “yes”.

But what about all of the in-between? The rest said they use it, but seldomly. Some for a joke among friends, or the generated AI tools when you make a Google search.

A response from an anonymous staff member said that they try to not use AI, but it’s difficult when “Google does offer immediate AI”.

It’s easy to scroll past and find a reliable source, but that “AI overview” is right in a user’s face—it’s hard to not take in that information when it pops up immediately with a Google search.  Google’s help tab said itself that Google AI is experimental, and it can’t always be trusted.

RAHS’s AI Fears

Many survey respondents are worried about the increased popularity of AI—179 responses said that AI scared them because humans will become too dependent on it.

Others worry about increases in misinformation.  The more something is promoted, the more people will start to believe it—especially younger people who haven’t had any sort of media literacy training. The spread of false information on the internet could grow exponentially.

Another anonymous response said, “It’s becoming more human-like”. If AI continues to grow and develop, people might not need to have original ideas anymore—AI will replace jobs, art, and music. Humans will not have to think as creatively, and Earth’s history of visual and performing arts will disappear.

At least—that’s the concern. 125 respondents decided that AI is helpful, especially when you think about it in terms of school.

Of the 38.1% of respondents who have used AI for school, 62.4% said it was because they had already done most of the work themselves, and used AI tools like Grammarly to fix grammar and spelling mistakes.

Another response said that they, “used it to explain a problem, and understand my homework…not to cheat.”

Actually, a lot of the reason for AI use in school is to understand concepts better, and not because students are too lazy to do the project.

That same response said that using AI helped them understand the material enough to ace the test. So, to put credit where credit is due, AI can be helpful, so long as you use it accordingly.

In conclusion, AI is terrifying and thrilling at the same time. It’s all up to perspective and how you choose to use it.