Is It Bad for College Students to Use ChatGPT? 

In 1993’s Jurassic Park, Dr. Ian Malcolm (played by Jeff Goldblum) states, “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn’t stop to think if they should.” 

Goldblum’s character is referring to a fictional scenario of scientists bringing an extinct group of mega-reptiles back to life, but history is full of scientific and technological advancements that occur faster than society can consider the ensuing ethical implications. Think genetic engineering, autonomous driving, and even ChatGPT. 

That’s right… ChatGPT, the harbinger of artificial intelligence’s impending takeover of society. OK, we’re being overdramatic, but there are still ethical questions when it comes to using the tool. For instance, is it wrong to use it as a college student? 

The Ethical Question of Using AI as a Student 

For as long as universities have existed, students have succeeded or failed based on their own merits. That is, unless they cheated, which was no doubt much harder to do before computers. With ChatGPT, however, it may be easier than ever for students to turn in work (especially written work) that lacks a student’s own efforts and ideas. 

So, that’s it then? From a moral standpoint, students should avoid using ChatGPT at all costs? Well, no. There are right and wrong ways to use ChatGPT for education. 

Your school or university likely has an existing policy around the use of artificial intelligence, so before you do anything, make sure you review it. What you’ll likely find is that there are some uses of ChatGPT that are discouraged, such as using the tool to write a full essay or conduct all your research, while there are also many ethical ways a student can use ChatGPT to assist with their education.  

Five Ways ChatGPT Can Help in Academics 

Brainstorming 

It can be tough to get creative when you don’t have someone to bounce ideas off of, so ChatGPT can be that “person” for you. Use it to refine your creative projects, get essay topic ideas or spice up the title of your next assignment. 

Checking grammar 

Some people enjoy proofreading and editing. Others would rather do just about anything else. If you’re the latter, then use ChatGPT to help ensure your work is error free before turning it into the professor. 

Drafting presentation notes 

You might be a master at crafting the perfect PowerPoint presentation with well-organized information and beautiful visuals, but do you feel as confident when presenting it to the class? If not, ChatGPT can be a useful tool for creating speaker notes based on your PowerPoint slides so that you don’t have to resort to reading word-for-word what your classmates can already see on the screen. Apps Do Wonders’ ChatGPT for PowerPoint plugin can autogenerate these speaker notes so that you’re prepared to present while still being able to focus on what you do best. 

Simplifying lecture notes 

Have you ever been taking notes during a lecture and suddenly realized you barely understand what you’re writing? It happens, and thankfully, ChatGPT doesn’t judge. You can feed it your lecture notes and ask the AI to explain it to you like you’re 5 years old. 

Add presentation images 

No matter how well you know the class material, creating an effective presentation requires more than knowledge. It also requires a keen eye for design, and that’s an eye not everyone has. But ChatGPT does! Use it to create supplementary visuals for your PowerPoint slides, or better yet, use that plugin from Apps Do Wonders we mentioned to make the whole process a breeze. 

Enhance Your PowerPoint Presentation in Seconds 

As you can see, there are plenty of ways to use AI to enhance your education rather than hinder it when you have the right tools by your side.