What students *really* think about artificial intelligence

My colleague Sean and I sat down with two ASU undergrads for a candid conversation about all things AI. It's a conversation anyone working in higher education will want to hear.

Recording this week’s episode of Modem Futura in the Future of Being Human initiative space at ASU. From left to right, Andrew Maynard (me), Bella Faria, Caleb Lieberman, and Sean Leahy

Everybody, it seems — at least everyone who isn’t a student — has an opinion about students and AI. Yet it’s surprising how rarely we actually talk with students themselves about what they think about artificial intelligence and how they see it impacting their lives.

So to redress the balance — at least a little bit — my co-host Sean Leahy and I set out to have a conversation with a couple of undergrads about their thoughts and experiences around AI in this week’s episode of Modem Futura.

Admittedly, our sample size was rather small. And to make it worse, both our guests are studying for a degree that’s built around understanding and exploring the relationship between technology, society, and the future — and so they were primed for the types of conversations we have on the podcast.

Yet much of what came out as we chatted reflects what Sean and I have heard from other students — usually when they feel comfortable enough to talk about what they really think, rather than what they think we want to hear.

Of course, this isn’t the only example of students talking about their experiences with AI. In the fall of 2024 for instance, researchers at Harvard published a report on teen and young adult perspectives on Generative AI that indicated cautious but growing adoption. And in February of this year the journal PLOS One published the results of an international survey of over 23,000 students on their thoughts about, attitudes toward, and uses of ChatGPT.

But there’s a difference between reading the results of a survey and listening to students candidly describe their experiences . And this, to me, made our conversation both compelling and humbling.

As well as listening to the podcast (see below), you can also watch our conversation on YouTube

Bella Faria and Caleb Lieberman are both sophomores in ASU’s School for the Future of Innovation in Society. Because of this they already have a pretty sophisticated perspective on how transformative technologies play out in society.

But they’re also students who are at the sharp end of juggling demanding courses — and sometimes even more demanding instructors — while trying to wring as much value as possible out of pursuing a degree while thinking about what comes next.

They are also both ChatGPT-natives in that they’ve never experienced university life as a student without access to generative AI. And this came through clearly as we chatted.

As this was such a rich conversation it’s worth listening to (or watching) it in full. But just in case you’re pushed for time, I’ve also included some of my personal top-level takeaways below.

The episode is also available on the usual platforms (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube)and wherever you get your podcasts.

Some of my key takeaways from our conversation

First off I should say that I loved this conversation. Bella and Caleb were smart, candid, funny, and insightful. And I came away having learned a lot from them.

It was also wide ranging, which makes it hard to slice and dice into a set of neat takeaways.

But let me try anyway — remembering that these are a mere shadow of the full conversation between the four of us:

Peer-peer learning

ASU isn’t shy about making AI tools available to faculty and students. Yet I was fascinated to hear that our students tend to go their own uninstitutional way here — and learn from each other what’s hot and what’s not.

I loved the image from the podcast of students peering over classmates’ shoulders to see what AI tools they’re using in class, or swapping stories about what platform works best for what applications (or assignments).

This peer-peer diffusion of AI-related knowledge and use is part of how learning should work — at least in my books. But it does throw up challenges for instructors who aren’t part of these fast and fluid informal learning networks, and are falling behind as a result.

And it does, of course, raise serious questions around what AI literacy means in programs where the students are several steps ahead of the institution.

Creative innovation rules

Closely associated with learning through diffusion, I really liked the examples that Caleb and Bella gave of how they’re creatively innovating with how they use AI.

If you listen to the podcast there’s a wonderful section where Caleb describes walking around campus with his phone to his ear — not taking calls, but talking with his personalized AI and asking it about every imaginable topic under the sun.

It’s a form of informal and self-directed learning that transcends the formal structures imposed by classes and degree programs. And yet it’s one that, hearing Caleb talk about it, feeds off students being immersed in a stimulating academic environment.

Both Caleb and Bella talk in the podcast about further creative uses of AI. Using it as their “second brain” for instance, or constantly having an AI app open in a tab in their browser, and asking AI to summarize class readings as an on-demand (but vastly superior) modern day version of CliffsNotes.

AI innovation is present in some classes, but definitely not in others

There’s a great section in the podcast where Caleb talks about an instructor using Google’s NotebookLM to create AI podcasts that cover key class topics. It’s a good example of an imaginative use of available AI platforms in the classroom, and clearly one that was well-received.

More broadly, Caleb and Bella talk of AI as a “meaning maker” — a technology that’s allowing them to discover and explore meaning beyond the confines of their formal education — and the expertise of their instructors.

At the same time, there was a clear sense that AI is not welcomed in some courses. And part of the informal AI literacy skills that students are learning is when to avoid any mention of AI in some classes, and when it’s OK to be open about how they’re using it.

Students, it seems, are learning to AI code-switch depending on whose class they’re in!

Cheating

Of course, the specter of AI-enabled cheating came up in our conversation. Here Bella and Caleb were clear that, as far as they can tell, relatively few students cheat. For those who do use the technology as a short cut to passing classes, it was acknowledged that AI makes such behavior easier. But they also pointed out that, where students set out to extract as much value as possible from their degree, AI makes this easier as well.

Paraphrasing them both, whatever your educational values are as a student, AI will reveal and amplify these.

I especially appreciated the insight that if you cheat, you're really cheating yourself — and that there are students who will use AI to cheat themselves out of a degree, and those that will use it to expand their education.

The value of a university education

As we talked, I was interested in what value both Caleb and Bella saw in their degrees and at being at ASU.

It wasn’t an idle question — the value that universities bring to society is currently under scrutiny, and as AI makes personalized learning increasingly accessible, it’s getting harder to justify the costs of getting a degree.

I was blown away by both of their responses, although you’ll need to listen to the podcast to capture the full depth and nuance of our conversation.

From Caleb:

“[T]he reason I was compelled to come to the College of Global Futures [at ASU] is I was really interested in what are the global issues. What are the risks in the world that are shaping the [current and future] landscape. And then I decided on the School for the Future of Innovation. The reason is because, you know, what are the tools that, and the innovations [we need], in order to address some of the global challenges in the world.

And so, for me … if AI could do something of, and take all the tools and make the difference in the world, then it already … you know, I need to have personal agency. And so, for me, if the learning is of value and it's actually, this is something I can take into my life and bring out into making an impact, then it's going to be … what's the value of using AI to achieve that …

The mission is not to get the degree. It's to ultimately go out into the world and do something with what I've learned.”

And from Bella:

“My education has shaped who I am, and what I want to achieve. The College of Global Futures is perfect for that, you know. We address complex issues that I believe everybody can notice, that the world is facing and, you know, with every program and class I'm able to take within the College it shapes who I am, and shapes my ultimate purpose that I will continuously be cultivating throughout my life, and whatever career path I decide to go down.

I was almost tearing up at this point!

Looking to the future

As we finished the conversation I asked both Caleb and Bella how they were thinking about the future and in this new era of AI.

You’ll have to listen to the podcast for their responses — which are both inspiring and hopeful. But I did want to leave the last word here to Bella, and something she asked leading into this final part of the recording:

“How can we navigate the future if we're not currently exposed to it?”

This struck such a deep chord with me as it’s at the core of what I do as an academic, professor, and writer.

How indeed can anyone hope to be part of navigating toward the future if we’re unaware of how the technologies around us are transforming it? And how can we expect our students to be part of imagining and designing the types of future we aspire to if they have no idea how the present waves of innovation are intertwined with who we are and where we hope to go?

That our students recognize this gives me hope that we’re doing something right here. But it does put the onus back on us as educators to create learning environments that expose our students to the future — and to help them understand and figure out how they can be a part of successfully navigating it.