Leaders throughout history have placed a high priority on education. Furthermore, as artificial intelligence (AI) continues to progress, it has been observed that students and teachers are turning to AI for assistance, which raises both positive and negative reactions. According to a Forbes Advisor survey, over 60% of teachers employ AI-powered resources in the classroom, demonstrating that the use of AI has begun to spread widely. It is crucial to remember that whenever a revolutionary shift occurs, both of these reactions are triggered, but there is nothing we can do about it other than keep moving forward with the developments. If we are to keep up with current advancements in the field of education, we must understand AI in education, including its benefits and drawbacks. For this reason, it is imperative that we understand how to use AI to improve education.

Prior to comprehending the proper application of AI in education, we must review the objectives of “quality education.” We must proceed with those while keeping in mind the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG4. SDG4 emphasizes the implementation of high-quality education and giving everyone an equal chance to acquire knowledge and skills, along with other sub-goals. UNESCO published an article discussing the use of AI to achieve SDG4 goals and overcome its obstacles. Since inclusive education is a key component of SDG4, we must expose educators and learners to resources that are accessible to everyone for knowledge acquisition. It is widely known that AI is, in fact, being helpful in gaining information and educating oneself on topics that one is interested in. In light of SDG4, AI has already begun to advance through this. It is now critical that we learn how to use the existing tools for education policies and ethics in order to mitigate their harmful influence.

To put it simply, instructors and students can utilize a number of online resources; the only issue is that people are not aware of them. In addition, they do not know how to use the resources that are at their disposal without violating any of the code of conduct’s guidelines.

There are many who argue that reliance on artificial intelligence (AI) is leading to a lazy generation. However, this is not the case; rather, it is a new way of thinking, and the use of these methods is for the sake of enhanced learning, and one must make complete use of it. It clearly has disadvantages, but we have to learn to get by in spite of them.

Let us examine a few areas where artificial intelligence has shown value in education:

  1. Personalized learning– AI tools like ChatGPT and Google Gemini are the best examples to explain personalized learning. Students can simply go to these websites and type “Explain the Renaissance to me in simple terms,” and it will be personalized to their own understanding. Other tools like Microsoft Math Solver and Photomath are useful AI tools for solving mathematical problems that provide step-by-step solutions to the questions asked.
  2. Lesson Planning–Teachers can create engaging content for students and enhance subject comprehension by utilizing AI tools such as Eduaide.AI and Drift. With the aid of these resources, educators can produce engaging and customized study materials for their students.
  3. Writing Assistance– This is one of the most popular uses of AI. The most widely used writing aids are Grammarly and QuillBot, which improve writing and help with grammar correction. Another tool that helps teachers and students with writing is called HyperWrite, which also provides citations.
  4. Student Involvement–Because we are a generation that finds traditional teaching methods to be not very effective, educators must find new ways to engage their students and get their attention. There has been a development in the field of AI for improving student engagement in classes that the teachers could use. Teachers can use tools like Mentimeter, Quizizz, and Kahoot! to create interactive polls and quizzes that will keep the lessons lively and interesting for the students.
  5. Content Creation–In a classroom, everyone is required to create some or the other type of content to stay up to date; teachers have to prepare lesson plans, and students have to make notes or prepare presentations if the situation calls for it. For this purpose, individuals can seek help from tools such as Canva or SlidesAI, which offer AI-powered design tools with pre-made templates, or AudioPen, which converts voice notes to text notes to aid in note-taking.

However, the risk of plagiarism in the case of class assignments still reigns. This disrupts academic integrity among pupils. Even for this, we have AI-powered tools to identify instances of plagiarism, despite paraphrases, including AI-generated content, by matching the content in assignments that have been turned in to the content available online. Turnitin, Grammarly, and Originality.ai are a few well-known resources. Turnitin is the most useful and widely used tool in educational institutions.

The argument that the use of AI in the field of education threatens creativity and individuality is rather weak. It involves using the resources at hand effectively in order to improve performance. Similar to using various modern art tools to create modern art, the essence of the process is the same even though modern aids are used because what matters is the quality of the finished product. Likewise, using AI for assistance is not entirely wrong as long as it does not result in harm or violation of any laws. All one needs to do is make moral use of the resources at hand.

–Kulsum Meher