The Ethical Use of AI in Essay Writing

By: Angelina Grin

6 min

0

07.11.2024

The Ethical Use of AI in Essay Writing

Artificial Intelligence, or AI, as it is popularly known, has changed how various sectors work, including education. Among its many applications, this technology's primary role in essay writing has attracted enough attention.

Today we are going to look at the ethical implications of it and try to understand exactly where we stand in our understanding of the practical use of Artificial intelligence in essay writing.

The Benefits of AI in Essay Writing

AI has proven to be pretty beneficial in the use of essay writing. Practical uses include brainstorming ideas, structuring essays, and refining writing.

And this happens because AI has access to a library of knowledge that's way more vast than we can imagine.

AI can also enhance the learning process by offering you personalized feedback on your input. Traditional classroom settings often lack the resources and time to focus on each student individually.

So, this limitation gives AI an advantage, as it can bridge the gap by giving you tailored suggestions that you can work on. Such feedback can help you develop your writing skills more effectively than otherwise.

This technology can serve as a valuable tool for educators too. Teachers are propagators of knowledge, but they too do not know all that there is to know.

So, in cases like these, the use of AI in writing cannot be negated. It's better if we look for ways to make it more ethical. This way neither the effectiveness of the tool nor the integrity of the content is ignored.

The Ethical Challenges of AI in Essay Writing

Unfortunately, though, benefits are not the only aspect of using Artificial Intelligence for essay writing; it has plenty of ethical concerns too. And you must have already guessed it by now; yes, we're talking about the readiness to cheat.

Acts like these impede the quality of the essay, since a piece of work that is poured out of the heart has a unique essence to it. So, if the essay is written using an algorithm rather than free thinking, the chances are that the information will be right, but the way it is webbed together will seem off.

And if that is the case, then there is a very high chance of that essay being perceived as low-quality. Not to undermine the reliability of AI, but yes, there will always be a difference between content written by a machine and content written by a human from his/her student accommodation.

Hence, it is safe to use Artificial Intelligence to source data points, but the eventual compiling of data sets should be done by a human. This will prevent compromising your content's integrity and also prevent content from coming across as unreliable.

ai in essay writing

Guidelines for Ethical AI Use in Essay Writing

Now that we've talked about the pros and cons of using an AI model for writing essays, we'd like to suggest a few guidelines you can keep in mind to make the most of learning about this topic. Below are some crucial points:

  1. Transparency

    The first and most important is to be completely honest with the stakeholders that you're using an AI model. It is almost impossible to hide that fact in the first place. But even if you're successful, there's still the issue of your work's integrity.
  2. Authenticity

    Teachers and students must keep in mind that the content that's in the essay is free from any duplication. Letting this slip from your mind would result in an essay that would command no respect, irrespective of the number of original data points you might have used.
    Such compromises affect your confidence when you're looking to upskill yourself using online study courses.
    writing essay with ai
  3. Accuracy and Reliability

    The responsible use of AI in easy writing is not reserved for taking help from it, but also for scrutinizing its reliability. Ideally, you should be double-checking the information that you've gotten; then, be it on the search engines or other LLMs. This way, you ensure that the content written from your student housing in Raleigh is a trustworthy one.
  4. Bias Mitigation

    In addition to the previous point, it is equally important for you to urge yourself to make an effort to mitigate the AI model's biases. Such a process involves using diverse sets of sources, identifying your mind traps, staying updated with the latest happenings, and so on.
  5. Proofreading

    Once you've worked your way through biases, you're ready to finally test your essay with your classmates. You see, doing so would greatly reduce any confusion you might be having regarding the essay. More eyes on your essay means fewer errors and more effective ways to use AI in essay writing.

The Educational Impact of AI in Essay Writing

Now, beyond the ethical and practical aspects, it's also equally important to consider the wider educational implications of AI in essay writing, good or bad. Because the role of AI in education is not just about facilitating essay writing; it extends itself to shaping teaching and learning for students and teachers alike.

And the most prominent impact seems to be the ability to think for all stakeholders. The over-dependence of technology can seriously impede the way a student processes and retains information in his/her mind. Also, this over-dependence can cause teachers to be complacent in their educational leadership.

However, with a bit of careful monitoring and some good judgment, we can stop this tech from overpowering our own skills and human efforts. And the steps we can adapt to battle this dilemma are:

  • AI Awareness Programs: The first and foremost is to educate all the stakeholders about the potential implications of using AI in educational avenues. Also, the ways to reduce its negative impacts and increase the positive ones should be discussed.
  • Encourage Manual Writing: Following this, the students should be encouraged to write as manually as possible. Now, this doesn't mean to completely negate the use of AI, but it rather means to practice some discretion.
  • Self-reflection Assignments: Furthermore, we can also foster an environment where students are asked to write essays that require personal reflection. This can be done using opinion essays and creative writing.
  • Peer Reviews: Lastly, we'd suggest the collaborative efforts of all the peers so that the scrutiny doesn't become too harsh or punishing. Peers must also ensure that the quality of writing is the most important factor they would be judging.

Conclusion

So, irrespective of the advantages and disadvantages of using Artificial Intelligence as a means to write an essay, we can't disagree that its role is huge. And not only writing but any task for that matter.

All of what we as humans seek to simplify or eliminate, AI helps us do that with ease. But the problem arises when we rely too much on it. The best thing we could do to strike a balance would be to realize the heavy lifting AI can do and recognize the decoration we can do using our individual creativity.

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Angelina Grin

Creative Writer and Blog Editor

Despite my relatively young age, I am a professional writer with more than 14 years of experience. I studied journalism at the university, worked for media and digital agencies, and organized several events for ed-tech companies. Yet for the last 6 years, I've worked mainly in marketing. Here, at Studybay, my objective is to make sure all our texts are clear, informative, and engaging.

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