By: Spectator Staff 

Since we started high school, most of our teachers have told us not to use AI, or other websites that would help us cheat on our assignments.  

But when we got to college here at VSU, new guidelines tossed those rules out the window. 

According to new Academic Affairs Guidelines that were posted towards the beginning of the fall semester, there was an “Artificial Intelligence Acceptable Use” guideline buried within the pages. 

This policy says that “Valdosta State University recognizes that artificial intelligence (AI) can be a beneficial tool for supporting learning experiences and research within higher education. To that extent, VSU provides information and resources to its community to promote the ethical, responsible, and secure use of artificial intelligence (AI) in an academic setting. This policy adheres to Board of Regents Policy 6.28.” 

Considering all of the lectures we have gotten over the years about using AI, why have we decided to incorporate AI into our academics? 

Now instructors here at VSU aren’t allowing us to do research on our assignments because they are afraid we will use AI on our assignments. Even if we wanted to have a substantive assignment, these new guidelines prevent us from doing so.  

No matter how sophisticated the technology of academic intelligence gets, when you compare an essay that you have written yourself to an essay that AI helped you write, you can clearly differentiate the two. 

Guideline number 6, named “Acceptable Use by Students,” consists of info about how to use AI in our classes as long as we have our instructor’s consent. 

Further on the guidelines it states “Follow the guidelines of appropriate oversight committees and/or organization when required by professional programs.” 

This sounds like it will make our schoolwork easier for us, but when AI doesn’t know the answer to a question for an assignment, it will create fake results. 

Even just using AI for outlines to get us started can be dangerous, especially if AI is giving us false information. Sure, it is convenient, and much easier than calling a tutor.  

However, there is no way to know if AI is giving us the right information to get us started or if it’s making it up, mainly because depending on our grades, we may not be able to know ourselves. 

In number 7, “Acceptable Use by Employees,” the regulations consist of how faculty, staff, and other employees can incorporate AI into their work.  

Ironically, the new guideline states that the faculty members at VSU are told to use AI to prevent students from using AI from doing their schoolwork for them. 

This raises the question: If we are using AI to stop students from going against these new guidelines, why do we need them? 

AI has affected the world in a number of ways, both positively and negatively. But one of the biggest negative problems has been the decline in cognitive content. Studies show that students’ critical thinking diminishes when they rely on AI regularly. 

So why bring this problem to VSU? Maybe this is more of an opportunity than a problem. 

Most students are completely against it, especially students who are majoring in anything that involves writing or creativity. However, some students are neutral about it and can see the value of AI. 

Here at The Spectator, editors and staff have voted unanimously to declare our newspaper an AI-free zone.