AI's Rise Questions Value of Academic Theses

The increasing capability of generative artificial intelligence to produce academic work has cast doubt on the future relevance of theses and essays. Ernest Ženko, a professor of cultural philosophy and head of the Center for Responsible Artificial Intelligence, argues that these assignments are more than just papers; they are a vital rite of passage.

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These tasks are a kind of guild examination, a way to prove that we are competent in our field and can work and research in it, that we know this field well enough, which means we have to go through certain processes that we have to complete ourselves and learn something.

"These tasks are a kind of guild examination, a way to prove that we are competent in our field and can work and research in it," Ženko explained in a podcast. He believes that bypassing the process of independent research and writing with AI tools means students do not acquire essential skills, rendering the thesis's purpose questionable. Ženko stated that students who use AI to complete their theses do not deserve the degree.

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If we don't go through these processes ourselves and don't gain competencies, then of course the role of a thesis or any other task or product is very questionable.

Ženko observes a concerning trend where students increasingly rely on AI for assignments, with many professors potentially not even reading the work. This creates a cycle where AI completes the student's intellectual work, and AI tools are then used to review it. This situation forces a re-evaluation of traditional academic methods and assessment strategies. The core question becomes: is the goal of education to achieve grades or to foster genuine knowledge?

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We are passing the ball to each other: on one hand, instead of the student, the machine, the language model, does the intellectual work, and on the other hand, the intellectual work of 'reviewing', of reading, is again done by the machine.

Ženko points to Guthart's Law, which suggests that when a metric becomes the goal, it ceases to be a good metric. If grades are the ultimate objective, then knowledge becomes secondary. He notes that education is increasingly part of a broader societal context where true goals may be lost, emphasizing points, evaluations, and exams over substantive learning. This reliance on shortcuts, driven by human nature's tendency towards efficiency, leads to a decline in critical thinking, reading comprehension, and writing abilities, particularly among younger generations who increasingly engage with summarized information rather than full texts.

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If we mention Guthart's Law, which states that if a metric becomes the goal, then it is no longer a good metric; if grades are now the metric and if grades are the goal, then knowledge is something that is unimportant.