AI Vent
I fucking hate "AI." GenAI is genuinely a fucking disaster. From the environmental effects, to the anecdotal examples of leading to cognitive decline to the NINE people it has killed (and that number is just ChatGPT!). That's more than double the "lemonade that kills you" from Panera, which was pulled from their stores so fast, I only heard about it after it was pulled from the market. I tried it in a store before that report came out and that was the last time (shame, it was decent, imo).
But for me, personally, I think that one of the most damaging aspects of generative AI is the erosion of trust. I have to deeply investigate images to make sure that they're really made by a person. I have to sift through anything on the internet to make sure that I'm not being duped. And, most infuriatingly, I have to look at every student paper and ask myself "did they write this?" There's a level at which this isn't new--I've had students cheat on papers via blatant plagiarism before. Hell, my first semester, two students turned in the exact same opening paragraph for a paper. It was unreal. But now, I have to worry about whether or not they even bothered to do that much.
I'm so tired of it. Most of my students are honest because I'm up front with them about my opinions on AI and I state, unequivocally, that if I catch a whiff, I'm furious. But still, it lingers that maybe they're trying to pull one over on me. I don't want to have an adversarial relationship with my students. I pride myself on being approachable and flexible when my students are willing to work with me (something I've gotten positive feedback from my students on a few times). But AI and lazy students have eroded my trust in the sort of middle-ground student. And I fucking hate that.