It seems unavoidable that artificial intelligence (AI) will eventually infiltrate the ever-advancing world of academia. At Nobles, AI is a complex tool that affects every member of the community, and its use is kept in check by numerous policies that vary by class, assignment type, and teacher. As technology advances, students are increasingly exposed to AI through social media, advertisements, and now Google Docs. When one opens Google Docs, the first suggestion that appears is labeled “help me write”, with a button that leads directly to Google’s Gemini AI. Per the New York Times, Google plans to spend $185 billion on Gemini in the coming year, underscoring the financial dependence companies now have on AI.
According to The Guide, any use of AI without citation or the teacher’s express consent constitutes academic dishonesty. The new implementation of Google’s AI on Google Docs makes this a frighteningly easy line to cross. Fletcher Parkinson (Class III) believes that guidelines can sometimes be hard to follow when AI is so ubiquitous. “AI showing up everywhere is hard to deal with, especially since a lot of the time we are trying to write assignments without it,” he said. Immediate exposure to these tools makes writing assignments vulnerable to academic dishonesty.
Students may commit acts of dishonesty unintentionally or without realizing it, and, conversely, intentionally when the deadlines for large assignments approach and panic sets in. Google’s addition of AI to its Docs software, however, may not always lead to more of these instances. “I think people who already use AI at Nobles will continue to use it, and there will probably be some motivation to use Gemini in Google Docs, but not a significant increase in people,” Elliot Davis (Class II) said. The reality is that many students nationwide use AI for academically dishonest purposes, but students are as much to blame as the AI companies themselves. Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic all advertise relentlessly to the American public. One can remember numerous ads promoting AI products during this year’s Super Bowl. According to Ad Week, AI ads made up 15 of the 66 total advertisements during the event, an astounding 23% of the total. People have become so desensitized to the ubiquity of AI that they fail to recognize its dangers. AI destroys human creativity and writing integrity, and is a fundamental problem in the new age of academic dishonesty. “In this day and age, AI is just going to be part of school and the rest of our lives,” Davis said.
Nobles as a whole cannot police Google’s inner workings or the decision to make Gemini prevalent across their products, nor can they control how much exposure students have to AI outside the Nobles community. This makes it exponentially harder for students to decide to be academically honest, as multiple sources try to co-opt them. Turning to other technology platforms would not shield students from AI either, as Microsoft Word has integrated its Copilot AI into the platform. “We have this whole belief that we have to make sure something isn’t AI before we can appreciate it, very different from what we had before,” Davis said. “AI is everywhere and isn’t going away anytime soon; it has even influenced people’s perceptions of reality.” The line between AI and real photos and videos is becoming blurrier and blurrier, showcasing the advancements and effort tech giants have put into their AI.
With no end to Google’s efforts on Gemini and the added value of integrating the software into spaces like Docs and Gmail, Gemini has a marketability not found in ChatGPT or Anthropic’s Claude AI. More people are likely to turn to Gemini because of these capabilities, which will fuel Google’s desire to further develop the AI. Students will inevitably be subjected to unwanted AI promotions through platforms like Google Docs, making it more difficult to submit academically honest assignments.
While Nobles has not been significantly impacted by this change yet, there is significant uncertainty about Nobles’ ability to keep up with tools like Gemini in the future.
