Ethical, responsible, and governance of corporate AI use are being hotly debated these days, from boardrooms to the halls of legislatures across the globe. But on the other side of this discussion are the ethics and responsibilities that should be associated with personal AI use. When is AI usage acceptable to gain advantage for personal purposes and when is it potentially crossing the line?
AI is helping deliver advantages to those who use it effectively to advance their careers, studies confirm. Job applicants who were randomly assigned algorithmic assistance with their resumes — such as suggestions to improve spelling and grammar — were 8% more likely to be hired, according to one such, 70% of 1,000 job hunters saw a higher response rate from companies when using ChatGPT. The study, published by ResumeBuilder.
Consider the multiple points where the line may be crossed. There is the presentation of false expertise. Presenting information and claiming it’s one’s own gained through research, when it involves the stealth use of AI, can mislead others to overestimate one’s skills. There is also the risk of presenting inaccurate or erroneous information, as generative AI may deliver results tainted by hallucinations, aka “making stuff up.
Classroom cheating with AI may not only cross ethical lines, but also deepen socio-economic divides as well. Gaining advantage over other students, especially those not familiar or adept at prompt engineering or overall generative AI usage abilities. And there is a cost involved as well.