AI is so widespread that every college has adopted it, each with its own guidelines, opinions, and values. At Villanova, the University supports AI in contexts that enrich the learner, but opposes its use when it replaces critical thinking. Regardless of its adoption level, AI is already here, and pretending it is optional leaves students behind. For college students, AI literacy serves as a key differentiator in the job market, as it demonstrates mature use of modern technology and the ability to prompt an engineer, which often yields strong results. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang agrees, explaining that “you’re not going to lose your job to an AI, but you’re going to lose your job to someone who uses AI.”
Utilizing AI as a Supplement for Academic Help
Students can thrive by using AI properly in the right settings. I find that AI is especially helpful as an alternative to a tutor for academic subjects. Rather than paying for one or sacrificing your schedule to meet with an academic specialist, AI is well-suited to teaching students the skills they are trying to develop. AI’s ability to fulfill this role comes from machine learning, where it learns patterns related to topics that a student inputs, allowing it to provide an appropriate response.
The specific reason AI is useful in this context is that it can explain personalized questions that a search engine cannot. For example, if I am learning macroeconomics and want to understand why an increase in the price of ketchup decreases the demand for hamburgers but increases the demand for mustard, AI will be of greater help to me. Asking a question like this to a search engine will result in an explanation of the umbrella concept: if the price of an item goes up, its substitute’s demand will increase, but if the items are complements, their demand will decrease. This explanation does not directly apply to the specific example.
With AI, the exact situation is explained, assuring the student that because people typically buy ketchup with hamburgers, when the price of one rises, the demand for the other will fall. In short, the customization ability of AI can deliver students specific, in-depth explanations that advance knowledge. Though I acknowledge that AI should not be used to replace office hour visits, it can be a strong supplement.
AI as a Preparation Tool
AI can also be extremely beneficial to students who are making study plans or are attempting to learn new topics they are unfamiliar with, especially for independent projects like presentations or research papers. For example, Villanova Finance Group hosted its fifth annual stock pitch competition this weekend. Each group was tasked with evaluating a stock and creating a ten-minute pitch deck and an executive summary.
After being assigned a stock I was unfamiliar with, I decided to consult AI for advice on how to start my research. Since pitching a stock was completely new to me, AI taught me how to think like a portfolio manager and pointed me in the right direction to begin my research. Once I knew what my first course of action should be, I could use the knowledge I received and apply it. When writing the slides or reading through the company’s corporate presentation, I knew I was doing the right thing.
The important concept to note is that, in this case, a simple Google search may also help me understand where to start, but AI’s customization and specific advice come from thousands of sources online. Knowing that my research was supported by professional standards allowed me to grow confident in my work, which helped my team earn first place in the competition. Students who use AI should always verify the information it provides, as AI-generated knowledge can be incorrect.
The Balance
For students, AI must serve as a starting point, not a finish line. In settings where professors encourage its use, AI can help students understand expectations, clarify confusion, and gain context about a topic. However, when used as a means to an end, AI can limit critical thinking and become an unethical tool that allows students to bypass the effort required to complete an assignment. Despite its value, the real learning happens when the student takes over and does the thinking themselves.
Each student should learn to use AI in ways that can enrich their Villanova education while preserving critical thinking skills. Responsible and ethical AI use is a core skill that will help students be more prepared and confident members of the workforce.
