As of 2025, 90% of college students reportedly use generative artificial intelligence in their coursework. Facing heavy workloads and tight deadlines, USF students are no exception to those turning to AI tools for academic support.
First-year business major Mila Leandro said she is opposed to AI if there is no initial independent thought. “I use AI when I am lazy, but it is my very last resort,” she said. “AI, if used…should be used properly and with intention, so you don’t rely on it so often.” However, Leandro argued that in some cases, such as when faced with lengthy readings, AI is able to accurately summarize the text, offering crucial time-saving measures.
The dramatic increase of AI’s prevalence in academic spaces has changed how students learn and professors teach. USF allows professors to choose from three methods of implementing AI use in classrooms. One option allows the use of AI with appropriate attribution, simply meaning a student can use AI and receive full credit as long as generated or affected content is appropriately cited.
Professor Michael Joans, program director for the economics department at USF, said that AI has made his job easier, “A lot of what I teach uses coding, especially in the upper division, so AI is useful to check work.” Joans also said that the economics department is drafting a detailed policy surrounding AI use, instead of leaving it up to the faculty, and tailoring the policy with “exploration and flexibility.”
Some professors allow the use of AI within specific parameters. For example, they allow students to use AI for outlines or study guides. In many cases, final submissions created by AI are not permitted unless explicitly stated by the professor. With these three options, USF has given the professors the power to see how AI will affect the quality of the education students receive.
First-year politics major Michelle McClung said many professors’ allowance of AI is interesting because, in her experience, a lot of professors have allowed AI, but within certain limits. She further said that students shouldn’t be so reliant on AI because “we are getting dumber than we were before.”
USF encourages professors to reflect on their course goals. Besides a webpage that professors can go to as a starting point to reflect on whether or not to allow AI, they also undergo training for the appropriate usage of AI. USF’s Information Technology Service (ITS) department offers consultations to help professors decide what is the appropriate usage of AI for their class.
Professors are challenged by the school to anticipate how AI will affect how their students learn, but also how the use of this technology will affect their careers in the long run. Elizabeth Friedman, an Honors College politics professor, said that she attended the optional summer training offered by USF to better understand AI and how it would affect her classroom. She also said that there is a faculty group researching AI, which offers workshops to other faculty members.
Discussing the newfound accessibility of generative AI, Friedman said, “My colleagues are some combination of distrust, suspicious and upset, but not towards the students, but how AI has been promoted.” She added, “So little of this technology has been tested before being thrust into our lives. On my own, I can evaluate AI responses, but I have concerns for undergraduate students who have yet to develop proper research skills.”
AI’s effectiveness varies by academic discipline. Some STEM fields, particularly nursing, are less compatible with AI tools, whereas business and humanities majors may find more success using AI in their academic careers.
Sophomore nursing student Raphe Lim doesn’t think that artificial intelligence will have a huge impact on her career field just yet. “Though I do believe that it can assist with making charts, I don’t fully think it can tackle hospital work,” Lim said. She added, “People have genetic and biological factors that make it more difficult for AI to tailor care that is specific to the patient and their condition.”
Educational institutions are now leaving it up to the professors to determine the usage of AI in their educational setting. This approach embraces generative AI while placing limits on its use.
