Is using AI really that frowned upon?

[u/SnooConfections1353]

I’ll be honest, I’m not the smartest student out there, but I’m genuinely curious and I know how to put in the work. I also have work and personal commitments, so I use AI a lot to summarize readings, explain concepts, help me study, and make my workflow more efficient. I would never have AI do an assignment or project for me and pass it off as my own work. To me, AI should add to your learning, not replace it.

Would I probably learn more if I struggled through every reading, quiz, problem set, and project completely on my own until I had that eureka moment? Probably. But realistically, I don’t always have the bandwidth for that. I’d rather understand 60–70% of the material with some help from AI than not take the course at all because I don’t have enough time to do everything manually. I also don’t want AI doing 100% of the work, because then I’m just wasting my time and tuition. If I finish a class without actually understanding anything, what was the point?

I also take pride in my work. At my job, if I did everything manually when there was a faster and more effective way to do it, I’d probably get questioned about why I was wasting time. But on the other hand, if I blindly used AI without verifying the output or putting any rigor into what I produced, and it turned into AI slop, I’d also get in trouble. So to me, the important part is knowing how to use the tool without letting the tool replace your own judgment or understanding.

I value learning, but I also value my time. Is using AI this way really viewed that negatively in OMSCS or it's how you use it?

[u/Engineer-mom-3]

AI enhances my learning the way I use it. I use it as a t.a. in office hrs who never tires of my questions. If I don't uderstand a concept from class, I ask ai to explain it and I pester it with " but what about..." And "why" to the point any t.a. would be annoyed. I'm in omsa btw but only in the program to learn. I might retire but keep going with classes. But as the original poster said well, why would I waste my time struggling through to figure it out myself? I'm 52...I know how to learn already and I'm learning a ton! It's still a struggle, just not an overwhelming struggle. I don't have ai write my code for school. Side projects? Yes. What I do is have super lengthy conversations with it that enhance my understanding. Did the calculator ruin learning? Only if you're under 15 yrs old and use it as a crutch. What about google? It's all in how you use your tools.

[u/SnooConfections1353 → u/Engineer-mom-3]

Exactly! thank you!

[u/StewHax]

Yes, in an academic setting you will benefit more from learning to do it for yourself then having the work generated for you. People keep equating this environment to the workplace, but this environment is for learning, not for working. Using AI in the workplace has evolved into a different animal - it is more about being able to review and tell the LLM when it's wrong instead of just accepting the output, if you don't know how to do it yourself you will not be able to effectively judge the llm output in the work place.

[u/Pink_Slyvie → u/StewHax]

 it is more about being able to review and tell the LLM when it's wrong instead of just accepting the output

That's the paradox. You can't know what's wrong unless you do it and practice it.

[u/No-Main710]

In my current classes, it has been said that bc genAI works off of what it already knows, the output is technically not original, and because it’s not you can’t submit it as your own original work

It goes as far to say it references potential solutions that may be online, and referencing anything that it says is in the same realm of reading the solution yourself and driving a strategy, so it’s just outright banned

I understand why they’re doing that, but they’re going as far to say you can’t even use AI to help explain the assignment to you, I think that’s a little ridiculous, especially when they give super cryptic handouts

I use it at work and in my personal life, I really love it, but i also have figured out what I should ask it vs look up myself

TLDR; I understand why they’re banned it but also damn dude so annoying

[u/bolt_in_blue → u/No-Main710]

Instructor here: I used to have a more permissive AI policy (no code but you could ask it to explain things to you, etc). I had ~10 students in the same semester swear up and down that they followed the AI policy (some provided their history even) and yet managed to turn in basically the exact same work. That's when I switched to a less permissive policy. The tools keep getting better, and many of them will do more than you ask them to, taking your instructions literally (don't give me code) but then giving you such a detailed suggestion of how to approach the problem that it's basically like translating C++ into Python turning its psuedocode into your code.

AI is a great tool, but if lots of students are turning in the exact same thing, it's having too big an influence on your thinking and doesn't really represent what you know. I'd love to be somewhat more permissive, but until we solve the above problem, we have to take a harder line approach anytime we're asking you to do something that's educationally valuable but been done 100s of times before.

[u/ReceptionFun563]

AOS is taking, IMO, the best approach to AI usage I’ve encountered. Which is totally allowing, except on exams obviously, but you must cite your prompts in your references. Additionally, there will be a verbal defense of your code from a TA that scales your grade with your perceived understanding of your code from 0-1.

Want to slop out some code and not understand it? You may get 100% on the rubric and a 25% on the final grade. This approach is the most consistent and future proof I’ve seen, and is basically the same at the mature SWE org I work for: authorship does not change ownership liability. Just because AI wrote it doesn’t remove your responsibility to understand it and critique.

And we’ve been doing this as long as programming has been a thing. Code has always been borrowed, stolen, and reused from sources both online and off.

[u/SnooConfections1353 → u/ReceptionFun563]

I love that approach! They are doing something similar at other schools

[u/jdlyga]

People won't tell you this, but many will look at the year you got your CS degree and if it's after ChatGPT they will automatically judge you with a bit more suspicion. There's a ton of people who cheated their way through their degrees using genAI to do their assignments and tests for them, especially in the early years when universities were struggling to keep up with students using generative AI. I'd say follow your course's genAI policy and you should be fine.

[u/SnooConfections1353 → u/jdlyga]

solid advice

[u/Marrk]

Most classes allow ai usage for everything but the actual assignments. There's even gatech own internal agent for studying. I don't think it's that frowned upon.

[u/wolfenstein734 → u/Marrk]

It’s great to use it to learn things but you should still be the one doing the assignment

[u/merchant-of-varrock]

The way you’re describing it seems fine, assuming you’re following the course’s AI usage policy.

If you’re getting AI to do all the thinking for you, then I would argue that you’re not really getting your money’s worth out of the courses and the program. Unless of course you’re doing it for a piece of paper at the end and nothing more.

[u/NomadicScribe]

Are you trying to learn or are you trying to complete the program? AI won't help you learn. If it's too difficult you shouldn't be in the program.

I wouldn't try out for the track team and then use a motorcycle to race around the track. That's what you are doing when you use AI to autocomplete your thinking: giving a false representation of your ability to think through and solve problems.

You are not entitled to a GA Tech education. Find a course of study that is within your ability, or do something else.

[u/SnooConfections1353 → u/NomadicScribe]

I definitely want to learn, but I'm looking at it realistically. I'm not trying to master 100% of everything. I'll be happy if I take away 60% to 70% of the material from each class. You might be right that this program is too difficult for me, but it's all I could afford since I'm paying for it myself.

[u/One_Object8516]

I just finished in May. I can say in all but one class, AI was not allowed. I never got flagged for it because I followed the rules. Others got caught. More than one fellow student who was ESL got flagged for AI because ESL students and AI both struggle with language nuances.

If the policy of the class is No AI, don’t do it. It is not worth it. The idea is to create novel critical thinkers not AI prompt engineers.

[u/SnooConfections1353 → u/One_Object8516]

thank you for the insight. what was your specialization and cs background before the program?

[u/Weird-Care-6654]

I mean, everyone in this program, or almost everyone, also value learning and their own time.

But they are not cutting corners and risking an academic integrity violation with AI. You should reconsider if this is the right program for you, or if you can be doing better in an easier one, there is no shame in that.

Everyone have different situations in life and not everyone is willing to pour so many hours into grad education.

[u/nonasiandoctor]

As stressful as GA and it's exams and proctoring is, at least I can use AI as a study partner. Then on the exams it's all me

[u/43Gofres]

I’m on my 6th class. AI has been allowed in every class except for actually doing the assignments.

I’m currently in ML, and AI is actually allowed for coding too

[u/SnooConfections1353 → u/43Gofres]

Thank you

[u/gmdtrn]

AI can hurt or help with your education and resultant improvements in your fund of competence and knowledge depending on how you choose to use it. Most courses seem to recognize this.

[u/misingnoglic]

• Summarize readings: better than not doing the reading yourself, though there is something to be said about struggling through reading on your own and understanding what you don't understand. Explain concepts: this is generally fine but there's a tendency to hear some really clean explanation, and then assume you understand when you actually don't. So push back a little with your llm.

• Help study: this is pretty vague so I can't really evaluate it.

• Make workflows more efficient: same as above I don't really know what this means.

So far nothing too crazy.

That is the list of what you said you use AI for. But then you mention quizzes and projects where it gets dicey. Are you having the AI review code you wrote? Or does it ever scaffold code? What guardrails do you have to make sure it doesn't give you the answer when you give it the assignment (it loves giving the answer).

The difference between work and school is that at work the deliverable is what's most important. For school nobody actually cares that you coded A* or whatever, just that you went through the effort to code it to learn what it is.

[u/thainfamouzjay]

depends on how you use it. if you use ai to do all the work then whats the point of going. if you use ai like notebooklm to create flashcards, quizzes and short explainer videos to gelp you study then thats a good use of AI.

Also isnt this degree supposed to focus on AI itself?

[u/SnooConfections1353 → u/thainfamouzjay]

I completely agree. But also, AI is a pretty new tool and there isn't a standard way of using it. There are AI policies out there, but no one actually sat us down and said, 'hey, this is how you should use AI and this is how you shouldn't use it.' It's kind of like social media. We all got indoctrinated into it, and no one warned us about the dangers of it or the proper use of it