Chatbots are Gen Z and Gen Alpha’s new best friend. Chatbots are a form of artificial intelligence (AI) that allow for students to have a personalized, human-like conversation with technology that has access to the entire internet. 

I am an avid user of Google’s AI assistant, Gemini. Gemini answers complex questions, summarizes information, generates ideas, and acts as a tool for students to learn. Gemini is based on a code allowing it to access, search, and process real world information through the Google Search bar. 

From Sunday, November 16 to Tuesday, November 18, I did not use any form of AI. Every assignment, article edit, and idea generated was from my big brain, and consensus is, my ideas are good, but they can be built upon with AI. AI helps me grow and succeed at a higher level. 

Over the course of three days, I felt the urge to use AI many times — most notably, when generating ideas or editing articles. 

I was working on an article at 1:00am. I successfully wrote 450 words with my own ideas, but reading it back, something was missing. On any other day, I would have copy-pasted my article into Google Gemini and attached it to a prompt to achieve three things — find places to add details that would strengthen my argument, check for redundancy, and point out flaws of the article. 

Yet, because of my AI detox, I stared at my article. It wasn’t good enough to submit, but because I had been so locked into the original idea, it was hard to critique my own writing. I sent it to two friends, knowing they were sleeping, asking for their opinions. The things I would have usually asked AI, I asked my 16-year-old friend at 1:00am on a school night. 

Obviously, I got no response the night of, but the next morning they were so caught up with their own routines that there was no time to read and analyze a 450 word article before school. I was at a standstill until someone else could get a look at it. 

If I had access to AI, my article could have been improved in the middle of the night — I could have answers after the click of a few buttons. When my friends eventually got around to reading the article, I got nothing but praise — a nice thing, but I knew it could have been better.

This is just one instance over the three days that I felt AI would have been the best resource. I wanted to use AI to double check an email, condense an article, generate more discussion questions for a club, and give proper edits to others. 

During the AI detox, I felt like my brain moved slower. I was forced to pause instead of moving through my work. I needed to use more of my in-person peers’ knowledge to build upon my work instead of being able to figure it out myself. Not using AI, took away some of my control. 

After these three days, I learned one important thing about AI: it is a profound advantage to those who use it correctly. Without AI, I gave up control over my time, work quality, and momentum. Students must learn to utilize AI as an unbiased critique that is able to point out flaws beyond the human eye. AI will help students build, learn, and succeed at a higher level.