“I Use it to Help me Think”: Troubling the Hype Around AI in Education

Since the introduction of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, many university administrators and educators across disciplines have encouraged the use of large language models (LLMs) in the classroom for the purpose of course and assignment design. However, advocates for AI in education overestimate the capabilities of LLMs in the learning process and overwhelmingly ignore the social, environmental, and epistemological consequences of AI—including plagiarism. In this paper, I critique the discourse surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) in higher education. I argue that the perceived benefits of LLMs to the process of teaching and learning are overhyped and are largely antithetical to pedagogical best practices and models. In addition to critiquing the assumptions and premises made by advocates for AI in education, I also argue that the real-world consequences of LLMs means that there is no ethical use-case for AI in higher education.