Our AI overlords are already here, and it is no surprise to anyone that their influence is rising. The market for AI-generated text is growing. Many find themselves hard-pressed to keep up with the growing expertise and naturality of generative AI. While we might be replaced at some point, we can attempt to keep up with the pace of AI development by staying ahead of the curve.
In developed countries, we already see many laws and bills aimed at hindering or at least controlling the development and interference AI has in our daily lives. It is the same in developing countries, such as Brazil. So, what is the way Brazilians have been using their digital assets nowadays? By leveraging AI, of course! The same as in most parts of the interconnected world. Brazilian students, in particular, have become adept at using AI to make their day to day education needs easier.
According to Beatriz Lima, a Brazilian educational expert, “it is very easy to improve the structure of a scientific article, write an abstract of an academic article, or even conduct research with IA such as ChatGPT. ” – “É muito fácil melhorar a estrutura de artigo científico, escrever resumo de um artigo acadêmico, ou até realizar a pesquisa com IAs como o ChatGPT”.
Brazil has been known to be one of the leaders of digitalization in public service for a while now, steadily rising among the ranks of the most accessible online services offered to its own population by the country’s government. It is no surprise, then, that the internet is also heavily utilized by the Brazilian population for their day-to-day needs.
How AI Is Used by Brazilian Students
So, what are some of the key ways Brazilian students have been using AI to boost their own learning? Let us take a look at some:
- Research assistance: Students can use AI to get information while researching different topics; they can ask questions, get new ideas, get summaries, or get explanations on different sections of their assignment.
- Homework help: ChatGPT can assist students in doing their homework by giving them explanations, solving mathematical equations, and simplifying difficult subjects such as physics, chemistry, literature, or any other subject.
- Writing: Brazilian students use AI to enhance their writing skills. They find new ideas, get essays or compositions, and learn more about how to write to get critical points. Students use AI to practice past exam questions and understand the exam format.
- Study planning: ChatGPT assists students in making their study timetables, managing time, recommending words or websites where they can get academic information, and the vital field to specialize from textbooks, online studies, or websites.
AI in Research
AI is a great tool to help you cover the basics of any new research you might get started on. ChatGPT itself can help with the more basic concept of highlighting key topics for the area that will be covered.
While the more complex and nuanced explanations that an in-depth research paper requires are not yet available to be properly covered in a human-like fashion by AI, they provide a great starting point for the ground you would be covering. AI is great at making very concise explanations, but remember to make sure it isn’t actually hallucinating or just giving you the downright wrong one.
Homework and AI
The use of AI in homework is akin to asking strangers on the internet. It is an easy way out, and one that has been used for a while now. This practice will usually hurt the long-term learning of the student, but sometimes you are just out of time due to some unforeseen consequences.
AI is simply perfect for this. It has already infiltrated schools and universities. There is no sign of this trend slowing down, but there are ways to use it in smarter ways, in ways that can help improve your own skills instead of just giving you a clear answer you probably won’t remember tomorrow.
Improving Writing with AI
It is an old saying that your writing skills will only improve when you are subjected to better writing, be it through reading or continuously working on fields requiring it. AI does exactly this for you; it shows you a clear way to write properly, while also exposing you to said proper way of writing.
It may be paradoxical, but the use of AI for writing decreases its need long-term. As the students use it more and more, they start learning the ways to improve their writing structure and even correct their previous grammatical mistakes in a very natural fashion. It goes way beyond helping by providing a short sighted (often cheating) help. AI is only a tool, it can’t think for us, but it can show us what is considered a better way of writing through its complex language model at its very core.
Study Planning
What better way to get started than with some preliminary planning? Online courses and such have had the internet in a frenzy for a while. Everyone knows about Duolingo and other similar e-learning courses.
Those often feel impersonal. With AI helping by providing scalable and personalized experiences, we might finally be getting a solution to the feeling of isolation those courses often generate. Courses have even started adopting flexible classes, with students matched through AI on a weekly basis.
AI and Ethics in Brazil
As you can see, there are many ways Brazilian students have been using it, like in many other countries. This includes the glaring issues that come with the use of AI as well. Plagiarism has become a very real academic issue in Brazil. It has become so real that ChatGPT itself is already outperforming the average student in many academic graduations.
It is AI against AI, and there is nothing that can be done. Many university professors now must double check for plagiarized content with other AI tools that are available publicly on the internet. This has become a booming industry worldwide, one fueled by AI and dealt with by AI.
Where Is AI Headed to in Brazil?
There have been talks about regulating or at least punishing the use of AI in specific cases in Brazil. The issue of its use as a way to cut costs has become so widespread that some government officials have been caught using it for marketing and other similar purposes, all while budgeting for actual human experts. It is no secret that corruption is a daily occurrence in Brazil, and this might just be what starts the march towards regularization.
For students, this might mean more scrutiny when it comes to checking for plagiarism or even content that was partially generated by AI. Many bills are currently circulating, and we have no way to guarantee they will pass or even be enacted without alteration.
All in all, students should be able to continue utilizing the many resources AI offers for a while. They just need to be mindful of the caveats already mentioned. AI is no monster, it is an incredible tool to help humankind, and it should be leveraged for what it is in learning as well. Students, take notes.
