College Students Form Anti-AI Groups at Five Campuses

Graduates at three college commencement ceremonies this month booed speakers who praised AI. Students at five universities have formed groups that advocate for slowing the development of the most advanced AI systems. S. Air Force Academy on Thursday. He acknowledged growing anti-AI sentiment among students.

PauseAI US, a national organization that seeks to pause development of advanced AI systems until they can be safely deployed, now has five campus chapters. Chapter leaders organize events to raise awareness about risks from AI and legislative efforts to regulate leading AI companies.

Nickolas Spiliotopoulos, a rising senior at the University of California, Santa Barbara who leads the campus PauseAI chapter, said members want regulation that prevents AI from substituting for critical thinking skills. Around a dozen students regularly participate in the group.

A Gallup and Lumina Foundation poll of more than 3,500 college students conducted in October found that 57 percent use AI for classwork at least once a week and 21 percent use it daily. Students reported using AI most often to understand coursework and check homework answers.

Paul Webster, a rising sophomore studying computer science at the University of California, Berkeley, said using AI for assignments that require breaking down content severely impacts actual understanding. Zoe Kaufman, who graduated from Mary Baldwin University with a psychology degree, said university staff advised her to use ChatGPT to write her résumé because a robot would read the application.

Kimberly Aron, a 37-year-old master’s student at Eastern University, said school policies that restrict AI use in class while pushing students to gain expertise in the technology create confusion. Daniel Liddle, an associate professor of English at Western Kentucky University, said he has noticed more eye-rolling when AI is mentioned in class.