When does using AI cross the line from helpful to cheating?

When you pass it off as your own. Should be ok If you site your references.

In 2000 we had a similar issue with Wikipedia. Most professors didn’t like it. Some professors said that it is ok to use Wikipedia as a secondary source, and if you just used it to find references to books, and articles.

It’s sort of the same as copying words out of a pre-internet encyclopedia, or Cliffs Notes, or other sources that gave factual information. People copied (longhand) and handed stuff in as their own. Some got away with it, and some didn’t.

Math (remember when teachers said “show your work”? is similar. It’s one thing to provide an answer, but quite another to be able to demonstrate that you can analyze the problem and figure out the answer.

ChatGPT, for all its glory, doesn’t analyze the same way humans do. If the student can’t display the analyical process that got them to the answer, then it’s cheating.

I agree on that. Using it to guide you and using it to tell you is different. ^

I was finishing a graduate business degree right when Chat GPT first widely became available. ~ Spring of 2023. Some people did use it to cheat, many were caught and some were dismissed from the program. It stirred a bit of controversy because instructors were initially oblivious and slow to react. By the fall, they had tuned graded assignments and exams (if remote) so that you really could not use it. (remote proctor, lockdown browsers and A.I. detection software) It was not perfect, but nothing ever is to prevent cheating. If you’re using it to do things like write a term paper, it’s cheating. If you’re using it to help you understand certain concepts, it’s not. I see it like calculators in the 70’s and 80’s and spellcheck in the 2000’s. Once these things were viewed as cheating but over time, they became mandatory tools. A.I. probably won’t be much different in the future.

Spellcheck being considered cheating????? I would die!!!

I use it for grammar or explanations if I am confused on a topic.

Essentially, if it isn’t something I’d ask the teacher (like looking for the answer), I don’t ask GPT. I will get the points off if I am wrong. I’m paying the money so I want to learn.

My first degree, I graduated in 2021 so no GPT at all. We still had lockdown browers that tracked your eye movements and everything. Dumb.

I think it is a fine line personally. I wouldn’t consider asking AI if you are on the right track for a paper any different than asking the teacher. Although, depending on how major of a paper it is, that changes of course. Most teachers will help if it is a minor assignment.

@MakeItSo1701 Oh yes, spellcheck was considered cheating, I remember that well. There was not a good way for instructors to fight it either other than they were not very good 25 years ago. My dad told me that when he was in engineering in the early 80’s they would throw you off campus for bringing a calculator. Fast forward to today and the message is “Please use this specific calculator” and “Use Grammarly or else.”

That is crazy. I am so glad we are beyond that. It kind of screws over people who need a lil extra help. My brain does NOT do numbers well at all. The highest grade I have gotten in math was a B, and barely that. I would struggle so bad without a calculator.

I wonder if we will get there with AI then. If what is considered cheating with AI now, will just be a tool like a calculator in the future. “Make sure you bring your AI assistant to school today!”

Right now it is the new thing everyone is skeptical of, even supporters. I love AI but am also critical of it. It is very, very morally grey and can be discussed endlessly (I will discuss this endlessly, I love this topic.)

@Blackwater_Park ”A.I. probably won’t be much different in the future.” You said it first, my apologies for missing that.

Use of AI crosses the line between helpful to cheating when you use AI for giving explanations. It is mind boggling how well ChatGPT can analyze things.

^That is an interesting take. Don’t think it has ever been that detailed for me. I tell it to use simple terms and be brief.

I type out my thoughts for a paper, essay, thesis and put it in to AI and ask to refine. I then read the output and use it as a guide if it works.

I appreciate the different view points. I don’t want to be cheating. Makes me reconsider how I use it. I am trying to be careful. Most teachers don’t respond to emails at 2am (or fast anyways).

@Forever_Free how much time does that save? Just wondering. That’s all the tedious parts.

@MakeItSo1701 I hate cheating and cheaters. You cheat yourself when you present work that is not your own. I would rather flunk a course than cheat in it. If you use AI tools to help you learn and understand in a way that enhances your knowledge, it’s not cheating. In the end, the work you present just has to be your own.

^Exactly. And in a field such as social work I take it very serious. I want to be the best I can be.

Thank you all for your answers. I was asking for myself but also as a general thing.

As said above, this mindset on AI will change, and I am very curious to see how. I love AI but I don’t support the plagiarism. They need to be more open with sources (I have asked GPT for sources on non homework related stuff, and it corrected it’s initial response, no source. It has also corrected itself mid sentence.)

I won’t keep rambling on AI. It is morally ambiguous. Thanks again.

I love it for giving me APA sources though. I hate APA.

@MakeItSo1701 Yes, it is tedious, but it is an additional layer of feeling good about what I submit. I do this in business writing also. Technologies, not so much value.