As some colleges and universities in South Korea are busy dealing with scandals involving students allegedly cheating on exams using artificial intelligence (AI), another concern is spreading among elementary schools in South Korea: more and more elementary school students are "outsourcing" homework and topic thinking to artificial intelligence tools.
According to a report by Korea Business Wire on the 18th, many teachers in Seoul, the capital of South Korea, reported that senior elementary school students now instinctively turn to artificial intelligence tools when encountering tasks that require research or reasoning. A 25-year-old teacher surnamed Jin who teaches fifth grade at a primary school in Tongque District once said: "For them, using AI to efficiently complete homework has become a kind of bragging rights and even a symbol of strength."
Teacher Jin recalled a debate in class about "child-free zones": students quickly turned to ChatGPT, and then threw out professional terms such as "property rights", "business freedom" and "public attributes of space". "Children often don't come up with these concepts on their own," he points out. "This robs them of the opportunity to think."
Other teachers expressed similar concerns. A sixth-grade female teacher surnamed Park said that now, students learning how to use artificial intelligence tools has become part of the school curriculum. "It is not difficult for children to take a photo of a math problem and let artificial intelligence solve the problem." She stressed that strengthening basic literacy and numeracy skills should be "a top priority".
On April 23, 2023, people read and rest in the square in Seoul, South Korea. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Yiliang
Many students admit that artificial intelligence has been integrated into their campus life. A sixth-grade student in Seocho-gu, Seoul, revealed that his classmates use ChatGPT to resolve disputes or write campaign speeches for class elections. Another student said that friends rely on artificial intelligence tools to draft campus activity plans or complete research tasks "because it is too troublesome to look up information."
Among parents, some are worried about their children becoming cognitively dependent, while others believe that mastering artificial intelligence is crucial in a rapidly changing world.
Experts warn that in the absence of clear boundaries, excessive use of artificial intelligence in younger students may be detrimental to the development of critical thinking skills. Yang Jung-ho (transliteration), an education professor at Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea, pointed out: "Directly copying and pasting answers generated by artificial intelligence violates the original intention of using technology to expand thinking. Students' reasoning and critical abilities will gradually weaken."
Park Nam-ki (transliteration), an education scholar at Gwangju University of Education in South Korea, emphasized that learning cannot be "outsourced". "If artificial intelligence is allowed to think for themselves, students will stop using their own brains." He urged schools to develop norms and safeguards to curb students’ misuse of artificial intelligence tools.
"Korea Business Wire" said that the above situation reflects the broader issue facing South Korea: how to cultivate students' digital literacy while preventing artificial intelligence from replacing the basic process of learning.