A hand holding a glowing digital city beneath a balance scale, flanked by two human head profiles made of circuitry, one marked with an AI symbol. Speech bubbles and floating particles suggest a debate about artificial intelligence and ethics.

What if students don’t want to use AI?

Resources, Teaching, Technology Trends

To get students to use AI ethically in the classroom, you’ve created assignments that integrate AI in the process. You’ve been thoughtful and intentional, spending time building these components into your assignments, rubrics, and course. And yet some students don’t want to use AI.

Ethical AI integration into our courses also requires us to take students’ ethical objections seriously. Increasingly, we meet students who are morally opposed to AI. They are concerned about its environmental impact. They are unimpressed by the style of art it creates. They are aware of its algorithmic biases. They are against giving personal data and ideas to a company without fully understanding the terms and conditions.

How do we pivot when students don’t want to use a tool we’ve intentionally built into our courses?

Why are you using AI?

A helpful first step is to reflect on the objective of the assignment, the role of AI in the assignment, and how students are being asked to use AI.

  • Are students learning about an AI tool, or are they expected to use the tool?
  • Are you asking students to observe the limitations, pitfalls, biases, or harmful outcomes of AI firsthand while they use it themselves?
  • Does completing the assignment require students to submit personal information, photos, art, or writing to an AI platform?
  • Can students meet the learning objectives through an alternative approach if they don’t want to share their work or personal information with the platform?

When there has been a shift from banning AI use to integrating it into the process of completing assignments, the expectations, checkpoints, and elements of the assignment often change. If using an AI tool is the only way to achieve your goal for an assignment, then the assignment may not be aligned with the course schedule, workload, or expectations.

AI tools can help students accomplish more in a shorter amount of time and are particularly helpful for students with disabilities. It can be an asset that our students use AI to create art, produce a video, or develop a marketing campaign without spending hours finding and learning new tools for just one assignment. However, creating a polished deliverable by using AI likely isn’t the only way to meet the learning objective for the assignment.

What does an ethical alternative look like?

Depending on the role AI plays in an assignment, determining alternatives to using AI can be challenging. When possible, create an alternative from the beginning so that the expectations don’t have to be determined proactively. When identifying expectations for AI-free assignments, keep in mind the amount of time and effort it might take students to accomplish something without AI assistance and to make requirements more equitable.

Based on different learning objectives, here are some suggestions for alternative options for students.

  • Let students analyze AI tools without using them. If the goal of the assignment is for students to learn about the benefits and limitations or AI, then giving the students opportunities to watch others use the tools and use resources from researchers can help students meet the same objectives as students using the tools firsthand. If students are asked to use an AI tool that is standard in your discipline, consider ways for students to learn about the tool while not requiring them to use it.
  • Guide students to University resources or your office hours for feedback and guidance. If students are able to use AI tools for brainstorming, project management, or studying, give them the option to get that support from you during office hours or by using the Huskie Academic Success Center
  • Share alternative tools for students to use. Although Adobe Creative Cloud suite apps include AI features, students can still use programs like Premiere Pro and Photoshop without using those features. For students who want to avoid AI entirely, there are also open-source alternatives for video editing, photo editing, and digital design.

What if AI tools are necessary?

In some instances, an AI tool may be integral to your course. If you encounter students who are resistant to using required AI tools, it can be helpful to have those conversations openly to understand why this is an expectation.

Identify why the tool is required.

Is this an industry-standard tool that students will encounter in their careers? Does it offer AI features at no cost to students, making it a more affordable option? Is this a tool required by the program? Explaining why you chose the tool and how it benefits the course can help students understand your decision.

Address student concerns.

Students who are worried about the environmental impact of AI may benefit from additional information about commonly used technology’s impact on the environment. Ensure you’re using AI with privacy safeguards that protect student data and share that information with students. If students are concerned about algorithmic bias, teach them skills to recognize and counter those biases. Acknowledging these concerns can help students make more informed decisions about AI use.

Discuss AI expectations and ethics openly

We often hear AI integration into education and careers discussed as inevitable, but that doesn’t mean that AI aligns with every student’s personal beliefs, learning preferences, or privacy concerns.

Be transparent with your expectations.

Establish an AI policy and openly share it with your students, allowing them to understand how and when you believe AI should be used and whether it has an impact on their learning experience and skill development.

Co-create community agreements.

Discuss AI usage with your students. How they feel about AI, the impact it has on individuals and environments, as well as the benefits it can have for your course or field. Together, you can create guidelines for the semester.

Invite student feedback.

How do students feel about the ways AI tools are integrated into assignments? Were they helpful? Was it an unnecessary step? Would students like to understand more about AI platforms and their privacy policies? Do students understand how AI supports learning in your course?

Above all, be open to having conversations about AI that might not match your own beliefs or course plans. It can be challenging for students to acknowledge when they disagree with faculty, but creating a classroom environment that encourages students to speak up will help everyone as you continue to reflect and develop your course expectations and assignments.

Helpful resources

Explore ongoing discussions about AI in higher education.

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