[467 Student's Eye] Changes in School Life and Journey Before and After the Introduction of AI

   With the release of Chat GPT (hereafter GPT), the era of artificial intelligence(AI) assistants has arrived. Big tech companies are rushing to develop their own generative AIs, and before long, these AI systems improved in terms of performance and learning ability, reaching a point where they could generate not just text, but images and even 3D graphic renderings. Just a year ago, generative AI-created contents showed discernible features and errors that humans could identify. However, from now on, unless one deliberately tries to distinguish AI-generated content, the results blend seamlessly with human-made material. On social media, debates constantly arise about whether a post creator is a human or a generative AI that responds to a human prompt. In fields like literature, art, and marketing, opinions are split on the value of works created with generative AI and its impact on humans. Legally, conflicts arise around issues such as the original creators of these works, the beneficiaries, the scope of commercial use permissions, and copyright laws.

   I have spent roughly one-third of my university life amidst this flood of AI technology. During my early university years, when generative AI had yet to gain widespread popularity, the most crucial skill for university students was fast and accurate information retrieval. While the importance of this skill remains valid today, back then, accessing large portals, specialized forum sites, academic paper archives, and various communities to quickly obtain precise search results was essential for group projects, essay writing assignments, report drafting, and administrative tasks. 

   When the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the world, I worked briefly at an environmental research center, translating and summarizing overseas academic papers in English into Korean for internal reports. Working from home, during a time when traveling was restricted, I took on tasks, working late into the night and submitting them at dawn. At that time, generative AI was not yet widespread, and since my work was highly specialized, finding reference materials in Korean on major portals was challenging. Even online machine translation sites or programs often failed to provide accurate translations. Thus, the final output considerably depended on my research, language proficiency, and learning ability. 

   When I returned to the university in the second half of 2022, I could witness some changes. GPT was released, and early adopters began using it for software programming, simple data search and collection. The following year, I applied for a software-related double major and spent a year as a beginner computer software programmer. Without a strong foundation, I jumped straight into team project-based courses, where daily interactions with GPT and constant Internet searches were essential to contribute to the group. Though GPT was still imperfect at the time, with issues of inaccuracy and bias, it performed exceptionally well in areas such as programming language generation. Searching for specific coding solutions on sites like GitHub or Reddit was often slower than simply explaining the situation to GPT, adjusting prompts, and obtaining a code draft that could be easily modified. I also consulted professional forums and studied books for deeper understanding but GPT became an invaluable tool, helping to earn a solid academic performance and avoid being a burden on the group.

   With AI still lacking in many areas, I no longer rely primarily on generative AI for tasks such as simple research or reports in my major field. Moreover, I am cautious not to let AI replace their inherent abilities. Although my major is unrelated, as a lifelong musician, I see generative AI as a fascinating yet double-edged sword. However, equally I do not join those who oppose or antagonize all forms of AI. After all, every tool can be a gift or a weapon depending on the intention and context.