At Homewood High School this fall, even the tutoring sessions have a new kind of helper: artificial intelligence. From drafting essays with the click of a prompt to using AI-driven quizzes after school, students and teachers alike are navigating a classroom shift that could change how Patriots learn and how they’ve learned something.

If that lead was unimpressive and didn’t quite make sense, it’s because it’s AI generated, and is indeed the only time you’ll read something AI-generated on The Homewood Tricorne.

Artificial intelligence continues to evolve and shape the classroom for students and teachers alike. Its impact in school now extends beyond its early days of simply being a tool used by students to shortcut assignments. It can be used in grading, generating practice assessments, as a tutor and more.

However, its merits and place in the classroom are still debated. AP Computer Science teacher Fred Major said it should be embraced, because it’s here and can increase efficiency.

“I think it’s like any tool,” Major said. “It takes a minute to get used to it, but once you get used to it, you find out the ways it can make you more efficient. It has made me so much more efficient in the last six months. There is a debate if you can use it, should you use it? But it’s here, so we have to master it.”

Some AI critics highlight the negative environmental impact of data centers required to power AI, which poses the question whether it’s worthwhile.

“It uses lots of natural power, a lot of water to keep the servers cool,” Major said. “When I use it to make my job more efficient, is that the best use of it? I see students using it to make funny pictures. Is that a good use of it? So at what point is it right?”

However, AI is still inconsistent. A Columbia Journalism Review study saw researchers input real news articles into eight AI tools to test their accuracy in citing sources. The models cited incorrectly more than 60 percent of the time, highlighting that mistakes are a common part of AI.

Major cautioned against relying on AI too much and assuming its accuracy.

“Another mistake people make is they assume Chat GPT is right, but it’s not,” Major said. “It just happens to sound really good because the tables are really well. But if you mess around with it enough, you get it to hallucinate.”

AI hallucinations occur when the generative bot invents algorithms or patterns that do not exist, resulting in made-up information. This issue spans anywhere from destructive personal advice or fake quotes and citations.

“A couple years ago, we were looking at binary search algorithms and counting the minimum number of searches it takes to do the algorithm,” Major said. “Chat GPT was wrong. We got to tell it why it was wrong, and it would say, ‘Oh, thank you. I’ll fix it,’ but it could never fix it, because even though that was the most probable next word that we wanted to hear, it wasn’t building that back into its memory, because that’s not how it works.”

It’s imperfect, but AI certainly has its positive uses, according to AP Language and Composition teacher Leslie Anastasia.

“I think it does serve a valid purpose for some students,” she said.

She said in the past she taught students who were training to be in the Olympics and did not attend school on a traditional basis.

“[AI] could help them and I think it can be a useful tool for them,” she said. “A lot of rural schools are having trouble getting teachers. For example, if you really want to take French, and there’s no French teacher in your county, then I could see you taking it using AI.”

However, neither Major nor Anastasia believe artificial intelligence would entirely replace teachers any time soon, believing human interaction is a necessity.

“There’s already a movement to replace teachers with AI, and some kids just don’t like school, but I think the vast majority of students need physical interaction with an adult and with their peers,”Anastasia said.

Major agrees and said teaching as far more nuanced than what AI is capable of.

“There’s no individualized attention there,” Major said. “Even though [AI] mimics it, the art of teaching is being able to change on the fly, see[ing] what people need in that moment. There needs to be a human connection.”

Some students do not agree with AI use in the classroom, a right that teachers must respect when incorporating the models in their lesson plans.

“I had two kids opt out: they didn’t want me using AI to benefit them,” Anastasia said. “They didn’t want to submit their content, because you own your essay. That’s your intellectual property. They did not want it uploaded and I respected that. If a student wants to opt out, I get the ethical concern.”

Juniors Lennon Cornutt and Brenna Snow agreed to have AI help grade their work. Both students are in AP Language and experienced the use of AI grading their first rhetorical essays.

Cornutt believes that it can be effective for simple tasks, similar to what one would ask Google. He explained the feedback given to him on his essay as very beneficial. However, many people disagreed with this as it gave them false scores.

“AI is so basic and programmed to do one thing, but if you’re learning and you’re struggling, I don’t think it would understand what to do,” Cornutt said. “It would be easier to explain a problem to an actual teacher.”

Cornutt believes AI can be effective for certain things, however does not believe it can replace teachers. Snow, on the other hand, has similar ideas to Major.

“It can be used for both good and bad. It depends on the situation. It can be used for growing and learning, or it can be used for cheating,” Snow said. “It gives instant feedback, but the feedback isn’t always accurate. It will never be as relevant or as effective as the feedback one receives from a human.”

Major also positively agrees with the efficiency of AI.

“The College Board has made all exams online,” Major said. “I’m going through a multi-year process of transferring a lot of my written tests to either AP Classroom or Schoology. I now have an algorithm I can just tell Chat GPT. I give it my old test and it will format everything I need so I can upload directly into school. That saves me an inordinate amount of time.”