Professors Despair as AI Erodes Student Learning and Trust

A growing number of college professors across the United States report that generative AI is fundamentally undermining teaching and learning. In a New Yorker article, multiple faculty members describe students using AI to complete assignments, from reflective journals to essays, leading to homogenized, superficial work. Jane Sloan Peters, a religious studies professor, recounts how her course 'Letters from Prison' once required students to struggle toward personal themes; now, AI produces tidy summaries. Susanna F. Boxall, a computer science professor, has eliminated difficult homework because most students use AI. Theatre professor Jeremiah Croster finds that AI-generated papers lack original thought, forcing him to assign obscure plays that ChatGPT cannot reference. Beth Ritter-Conn, an English professor, laments the erosion of trust, noting that even honors students used AI for personal reflection journals. Some instructors have adapted by requiring in-class writing, blue-book exams, or video responses, but many feel they have become 'plagiarism cops' rather than educators. The article highlights a systemic tension: while AI can aid research and coding, its use in education threatens the core mission of developing critical thinking and independent ideas. Faculty express despair over the loss of authentic student work and the transactional model of education that AI exacerbates.