Teachers and students are using AI in the classroom; this is a reality that we now have to accept. Since its introduction in 2022, ChatGPT has made its way into the education community and has steadily grown in its usage and abilities.

Today, the UPrep family handbook regulates student usage of AI as follows: 

“AI text- and image-generation tools only when they are permitted or required by the teacher for a specific academic purpose, and with the teacher’s explicit permission.”

The problem with these guidelines is that AI continues to evolve: it has grown and can do more now than ever before. Students can use AI to review their papers, and more importantly, teachers can use programs such as Brisk and Magic School to create entire lessons. The statement in the UPrep family handbook was a strong start, but it is not enough anymore.

Teachers are using AI as a “tool” but that opens the question of how can students use AI as a tool. What even is a tool? Is a tool idea generation? Correction or advice? Generating study questions for a test just like teachers generate questions for small assignments? The handbook does not do anything to define these murky uses for AI.

Additionally, students don’t know when teachers are using AI to teach them. And if teachers are using it, students should know about it, just like how teachers should be informed of when students use AI in their own work.

The handbook elaborates on this specific aspect of transparency in regards to notifying about AI use:

“Always identify when AI text- or image-generation tools were used in any work submitted for grading, along with which specific tool was used and any prompts or dialogue used to generate the content.”

But this is directed specifically toward students, and in an ever-expanding AI landscape, it does not cut it to have rules for AI that just apply to students. It is our education, and teachers are supposed to be aiding us in our learning journey. If AI generated information becomes a part of our education, we need to know about it. With no regulations, how can we trust teachers’ use of AI?

AI is evolving, and guidelines for how it should be used need to grow too, for both teachers and students. Transparency and clarity are needed about how AI should be used, and who is using it, if UPrep wants to move towards using AI responsibly as a community.