A survey about ChatGPT was sent to the whole student body Jan. 14 and received 66 student responses. People use ChatGPT for so many reasons, and students use it even more. According to the survey, the main reason students at HHS use ChatGPT is to explain the work their teacher has assigned to them that they didn’t understand.
According to the survey, the class the respondents used ChatGPT in the most was English. But, not everyone uses ChatGPT. Out of the 66 respondents, 34 students claimed they’ve never used ChatGPT for schoolwork.
Junior Edwin Martinez believed this AI should not be allowed to be accessed in school.
“[ChatGPT] should be banned. It disrupts learning,” Martinez said.
Senior Elliot Rhodes disagrees.
“I think it’s totally ok. I mean, teachers throw loads of work at you and actually expect you to finish it in almost no time,” Rhodes said. “ChatGPT lets you finish [your work] without letting you get burnt out.”
From the survey, lot of respondents brought up the fact that students are using ChatGPT to cheat on tests and do their work for them, causing students to not learn for themselves. Junior Annie Snow summed up all those opinions.
“I think if students are using ChatGPT to help them STUDY it’s okay, […] but if they’re using it to cheat, that’s where it becomes a problem,” Snow said.
Sophomore Lewis Johnson has a message for the students using it to cheat.
“To all the kids who use ChatGPT for schoolwork – we know you’re not going to get into college, so why waste your high school education as well?” Johnson said.
Students also acknowledged the fact that using ChatGPT for everything will eventually come back to nip you in the bum.
“Student’s education is what they make out of it, and if a student cheats through a whole class, I think it’s fine,” senior Joshua Nafziger said. “They will feel the consequences later in life when they don’t have the skills they skipped out on.”
However, ChatGPT stunting student’s learning isn’t the only problem. ChatGPT is ruining the environment. In the survey, the responses were clear – not many students know the environmental costs of using ChatGPT. Freshman Kingston Lehman asked the burning question.
“What does an AI computer do that’s bad for the environment?” Lehman said.
Let’s break it down. According to Earth.org, AI models are powered by data centers, relying on the significant amount of energy needed. There are chips inside of the data centers that help train the AI on what to say and do; constantly gaining new information, which takes up more and more power. Most of the time, the data centers are powered by natural gas, although there are a few run on solar power, making exact data difficult to come across.
According to piktochart.com, the average human emits about four tons of carbon dioxide each year. ChatGPT emits 8.4 tons of carbon dioxide each year. That may not sound like a lot, but there’s more. Training models like ChatGPT-3 and 4 takes up a LOT of water. A study by researchers at the University of California reported that Microsoft used about 700,000 liters of water (equal to about 3700 bathtubs full) to train ChatGPT-3. That amount of water is enough to make 370 BMWs or 320 Teslas.
The main reason so much water is needed is because the energy being used heats up and water is needed to cool everything down. According to a study by the American Chemical Society, 15 short ChatGPT entries produce the same carbon footprint as watching 1 hour of videos. It may feel like you’re just one person not making that big of a dent, but it adds up quickly.
The reason it’s hard to see more information is because these AI companies are trying to hide it. It’s okay if you didn’t know anything about the consequences of ChatGPT, but I highly encourage you to do your own research. Don’t use ChatGPT (they don’t cite their sources,) but a simple Google search like “how is ChatGPT bad for the environment” will provide you more information.
So what can students do? Be mindful of your actions. Think before using ChatGPT. It has the same accuracy as Wikipedia – you’ll still need to check your sources. It’s okay to use it sometimes, but don’t let it ruin your high school education.
This article was not written using any form of AI.
