For students, Gen AI has become a key ally in navigating schoolwork. Leroy Goh, an 18-year-old student at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, shares, “Gen AI has provided me with so much aid in my assignments and projects, I love it. It lightens my workload and helps me focus on the important parts.” For Goh and many like him, natural language AI tools like ChatGPT simplify workloads, helping with ideation, essay drafting, and clarifying doubts.

Fellow student, Sarah Adriana, echoes similar sentiments, noting how Gen AI enhances her efficiency. “It’s great for speeding up my workflow. I can generate ideas faster and focus on refining them,” she explains. Adriana also highlights its utility in creative fields. “I feel, especially in media work, AI can be used to help us with tasks such as ideas or draft generation.”

Many students also use AI to improve their writing. “When I’m writing reports or articles, I sometimes struggle to phrase things well,” Goh says. “Gen AI helps me rephrase clunky sentences and make my writing more concise and impactful.”

The research process has also seen a revolution with the rise of Gen AI chatbots. Polytechnic student Tegan Sim shares his experience: “You can just type in, ‘Give me some information on this topic,’ and AI will spit out everything back to you with links that you can fact-check.” This functionality has streamlined the often time-consuming task of web surfing, making it easier for students to gather information quickly and efficiently.

However, this convenience comes with challenges. Students are beginning to realise the academic consequences that come with the over-reliance on Gen AI. As schools adapt to Gen AI, educators are getting better at detecting and addressing AI-driven plagiarism. Students have to be constantly wary of the line between ethical use and over-reliance on Gen AI.

When working on projects, Goh talks about his approach when using Gen AI tools. “What I do to ensure the ethical use of AI is to constantly remind myself that I am in a media course and that using and over-relying on AI … [puts] me [at high risk of plagiarism],” Goh said. “When I'm overusing AI, I'll just take a step back and revert to my normal ways of thinking. [When I catch myself] prompting too much I'll be like, ‘Okay, no, stop. Think for yourself, think in a human way.’”

Sim also highlights another challenge: misinformation. “AI can give you inaccurate facts or fake links, so you have to fact-check everything. Taking its output at face value can be dangerous.”

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