With the recent surge of natural language processing and artificial intelligence, AI is starting to make its way into our daily lives. I have an interest in machine learning, but I have not fully incorporated it into my school workflow. I enjoy experimenting with new technology, but I do not like to rely on it. At this time in my academic journey, I was worried that using AI may lead me into falsely believing that I understand the content when I do not.
I found that the screencasts that were given to us were sufficient in explaining the concepts of the homework, so I believe that AI was not necessary to complete these WODs. I do think that AI could be used to explain concepts that are unfamiliar, but I typically use other resources for help; Such as YouTube tutorials, reading documentation, or asking a friend.
I thought of the in-class practice WODs as a test for the real WOD. I did not use AI for these WODs because I believe that it would defeat the whole purpose of doing these in class. I would much rather talk to the professor or classmates to get help since we are all here to teach and learn. Using AI in a setting like this is counter-intuitive to me.
I treated these WODs as a test to my knowledge. Using AI to pass these WODs would make me feel like I do not understand the content enough to move forward in the class. If I have a hard time with the WOD, I would first look at the in class WOD from the previous class. If I can’t find an answer there, I would then look online for some resources. I may use AI as a last resort to help kick-start my thinking process, but I would not copy-paste AI generated code without understanding it well first.
Essays were assignments that I looked forward to because I would be able to put my ideas into words instead of code. It seems a little fake to have an AI generate an essay for you or come up with ideas for you to talk about. Essays are a way to creatively reflect on your personal experiences. While AI is extremely powerful, I have found AI to lack creativity which is why I do not use it for essays.
I treat the final project like a final exam for the course. It’s an assignment that combines all the knowledge you have gained during the semester and showcasing it in your own way. I refrained from using AI for the whole semester so using it for my final project seems like a lackluster end to a great semester of learning.
This is where I believe that AI does have some great uses. Some tutorials that I find online often include details about topics that I do not need to know. I think that AI is good at summarizing data and explaining it in a way that is easy to understand. However, there are some drawbacks. I try to be very careful about what information I use from AI. AI has a tendency to hallucinate when presented with questions it does not fully have an answer to. I may use AI to help summarize a concept, but I take it a step further to verify its information through documentation or testing.
I think that questions asked in class should be answered, or at least verified by someone who has the credentials and background to answer the question correctly. Having no answer, in my opinion, is better than having an incorrect answer. While we are building our foundation of Software Engineering skills, I think that asking good questions and getting accurate information is the most valuable thing that I could get from the class.
I am a believer in asking smart-questions, being thoughtful about the questions you ask will lead to a higher quality answer given. If you do not give the context needed to others when asking a question, you may find yourself constantly talking back and forth just for clarification. I don’t think that AI helps with this. If an instructor can’t answer the question with the context you have given, an AI would probably have a hard time as well. In the worst case, AI may even give you incorrect or misleading information. I think that it would be best for you to take some time to formulate a good question than to resort to AI.
I think that the documentation provides the most accurate information for libraries that you may use. I also believe that understanding the concept of the function is much more important than getting working code. Without an understanding of the function or code snippet you are using, you will constantly have to rely on online resources for help. In my opinion, I think that taking the time to learn a concept will take longer at the start, but you will save so much time in the future.
I like to write code without AI so explaining code with AI seems a bit counter-intuitive. If I can write the code but not explain it, then there may be necessary complexity which could be an indicator that your code needs to be refactored.
Using AI to write code results in many problems. One, you may not fully understand the code. Two, you may not be able to explain it to others. This could lead to confusion if you are working in groups. Three, you may experience more bugs if the AI gives you code that is outdated. This could lead to even longer development times, and you may need to rewrite the code in the future anyway.
I think this question is very similar to explaining code. I like to write code without AI so documenting code with AI seems a bit counter-intuitive. If I write the code, it makes sense that I would understand it better than an AI and would do a better job at explaining it with documentation.
I think that this may be the worst use of AI on this list. Quality assurance such as testing is the ground truth for if your software is working or not. If you base your testing on an AI’s opinion, you may unknowingly release software that is not fully tested and could potentially harm someone. At the moment, I think that I would use AI for text summarization such as reorganizing my notes. However, I do have concerns about using AI for content generation.
I have not used AI in ICS 314, but I don’t think it is necessarily a bad thing to use. If it helps you understand concepts better and pass the class, I don’t see anything wrong with it. Just be skeptical of the AI’s responses and verify that they are correct before using them.
I’ve found that AI has a negative impact when I rely on it but a positive impact if I use it to supplement my learning. In class, I refrain from using AI since I have so many good resources around me, such as classmates or the professor. I may use AI for non-critical tasks such as organizing or summarizing my text notes.
For the Hawaii Annual Code Challenge project, my team created an AI chatbot to help UH students and faculty answer questions about ITS. I have been very critical about AI in this essay and I have been very critical about the AI we have created. I want our AI chatbot to give the most accurate information possible. This was achieved with the use of prompt injection classifiers and collecting data only from the hawaii.edu domain.
Since I have not used AI in ICS 314 I have not faced any challenges, but I do think that in the future there will be many more opportunities for AI to help supplement learning in the classroom. My main concern was the accuracy of the information given by the AI. But in the future when AI becomes more intelligent, I may use it more frequently to answer questions or to summarize complicated topics.
I believe that traditional teaching methods, such as learning in class and doing homework at home, are a bit outdated. I think that learning at home and discussing / working in class is a better approach to learning. I’m not sure how AI could supplement this teaching method. I suppose that AI could be used to create summarized notes for class discussion which could be very helpful for students who were not able to make it to class. I don’t think that AI will take over the classrooms, but it could be used to supplement learning in the future.
My main concern with AI is its accuracy and its potential to mislead you into believing that you understand the content when you do not. In the future when AI becomes more accurate and people understand how to use AI correctly. It will be a big step forward in education. There could also be a course that is required to take for all college students to understand how AI works and how to use it effectively.
I have been a bit critical of AI in this paper, but I do not think AI is bad. I have an interest in machine learning and natural language processing. As hardware becomes more advanced, it opens new doors for artificial intelligence which I am excited for. I have decided to not use AI in ICS 314 because I want to build a solid foundation for my future.