The Ethical Student.
The Ethical Student
Students too have an ethical code. Usually, personal ethics are enough to guide you in what is right and good, but sometimes a situation and what you should do is ambiguous. This is where a student honor code comes in. Most schools and universities have an honor code to lay out what is considered ethical behavior for that school. Honor codes include the rules around academic misconduct such as cheating. Cheating is considered unethical in most situations and contexts, including a classroom. However, occasionally students are unclear on what kinds of behavior are considered cheating. You likely are aware that plagiarism is cheating. But what if you take a sentence someone else wrote, change a few words, and then put it in your paper? Most programs would still consider that plagiarism, especially if there is no citation to the original source. You must make it clear whether your work is your own idea or based on someone else’s ideas.
Even more challenging to sort out are the current advances in AI, or artificial intelligence. This new form of technology has many ethical implications across different disciplines. Is it ethical to create art with AI and pass it off as your own? What about a lawyer using it to write their case? Or a student using AI to write a class discussion post? The technology behind the AI software has environmental impact as well due to extreme energy demands – is it ethical to use it when it is contributing so heavily to energy use and climate change?[19]
As usual, there is no easy answer. There are many aspects to consider when evaluating a given behavior through an ethical lens. With every new form of technology, there is always the question of how to use that tool ethically. AI is no exception. Further, this technology is being developed at a faster pace than we can create policies around ethical use.[20]
In this early stage of the AI boom, it is safe to say that AI has great potential for serving as a tutor or a personal assistant – and also great potential for ethical conversations. If you would like to read more about AI ethical recommendations, please see this site: Ethics of Artificial Intelligence | UNESCO[21]
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