How Do Stuyvesant Students Feel Four Years Out From Their First Encounter With AI?

Anders Zernike is a Photos Editor for The Spectator.

Nearly four years ago, OpenAI released ChatGPT, a technology that undeniably changed the world. When first introduced, AI was a new, strange technology whose capabilities were undetermined. In some ways, it feels even more unknown today because the more that we learn, the more questions we have. At Stuyvesant, students across grades have widely varying relationships with AI. The seniors are the first class to complete all of high school with conversational AI in existence, while the freshmen have grown up around it since they were fifth graders. At such a unique time in AI’s history, the feelings it brings up for all types of students are more varied and important than ever. 

For many Stuyvesant students, AI was, and continues to be, a symbol of excitement about future technology and what humanity can accomplish. “I remember being so in shock looking at AI when it first came out,” junior Clara-Ly Duquette explained. “It was so different from any technology I had ever seen before, and it still is.” 

Stuyvesant’s Class of 2030 presents a unique view on AI because they are some of the first teenagers to truly grow up with this technology. Freshman Felipe Cordero Camhaji described his first encounter with AI at just 10 years old: “It was foreign because before you would just search something up, and it would just tell you a specific answer. But with AI, you could actually talk and respond back to, like you could ask follow-ups, and I thought that was crazy. And I was only 10 years old.” 

While AI feels revolutionary for some, students can both appreciate the revolutionary qualities while still acknowledging its harms. “When I was coming into Stuyvesant as a freshman, I didn’t think anyone would be using [AI]. Obviously, that is not true. And that’s why I think we need regulations,” sophomore Winter Costanzo explained. Even four years later, regulations around AI are still uncertain. With constantly changing technology, it is imperative that students understand when AI is useful and when it isn’t, and how that changes across different aspects of their lives: as Stuyvesant students, and as soon-to-be adults. 

For many students, the question isn’t whether to use AI, but rather how to use it responsibly. “My verdict remains: modern-day artificial intelligence tools are useful tools. They should be treated as such,” junior Anders Zernike noted in an email interview. That said, he believes AI should be approached with care. “I’ve personally found more and more use cases for these tools,” he furthered. 

The discourse around the ethics of AI cannot be ignored. According to the Pew Research Center, 38 percent of Americans believe AI worsens problem solving, and 53 percent believe AI worsens creative thinking. Students sympathize with these concerns, but continue to view AI more holistically. “Like with any technology, there are tradeoffs,” Duquette remarked. “But we have to view it as a whole, and overall AI has the potential to make major improvements for humanity,” she continued.

Some Stuyvesant students are profoundly anti-AI. “My dad’s a graphic designer, and I don’t want to take AI over those things; they are things that are important to me,” freshman Joseph St. Pierre described. “I used it once, and since then have never again.” His views show that the push to regulate AI isn’t limited to governments but exists in the student body as well. 

As the next generation of the workforce, there’s real fear about how AI will impact jobs, and what the modern workplace will look like. With AI constantly evolving, it’s hard to grasp how the world changes day to day, let alone how the landscape graduating seniors enter will differ from the one awaiting the freshman. “Obviously I’m pretty scared about the job market with AI. I think everyone is,” Constanzo expressed. “Every time there’s any sort of panel where kids are talking to experts, people working in fields now, they always ask what is going to happen with an entry-level position. And we don’t know.”

Freshman Samuel Jiang shares Costanzo’s thoughts. “It makes me kind of terrified. Why would you need to study or get a degree if AI can just do all of that for you?” he noted. For underclassmen, AI can feel even more confusing and scary, even though the workforce is still far away. Because freshmen have more time before they graduate, AI has more time to change, which only adds to the uncertainty.

Zernike shares a similar concern, but one rooted in a bit more optimism. He views AI enablement as a new prerequisite for being successful in most fields, something that will be hard to adapt to but will open up more doors when it happens. “It’s important we learn how to use these tools properly, and effectively, because as students enter the workforce, we need to be prepared to use the technologies that will inevitably be vital to their jobs,” he explained. 

For some Stuyvesant students, feelings surrounding AI in the future are complex. “We don’t know what AI is going to look like or be like in the future,” junior Hana Kurian said. “We have to stay informed about what’s happening and watch as it progresses.” 

For Zernike, three feelings come to mind: “Uncertainty. Caution. Excitement,” he shared. These three feelings seem to sum up the world of AI perfectly. As new models with new features, new agents with new capabilities, and new companies with new promises come across our desks, students should be all three: cautious about what AI can and can’t do, uncertain about what its future holds, and yet excited for how it could fundamentally change humanity.