You don't have to look very hard to find media stories about students using AI to cheat - but what if they refuse to use AI at all? In a new article for Inside Higher Ed, Drs. Carla Fehr and Jennifer Saul discuss students who are conscientious objectors to using AI.
Fehr, the Wolfe Chair in Scientific and Technological Literacy and Saul, the chair in Social and Political Philosophy of Language, co-authored the opinion piece urging educators to respect students who act as "conscientious objectors" to generative AI by offering alternative assignments. These students often reject the technology due to deep moral concerns regarding cognitive development, bias, and academic integrity. The authors suggest that acknowledging these students' autonomy is essential, as the human skills fostered through traditional, unassisted work remain highly valuable in an AI-integrated world.