By Kestrel Foley, Guest Writer

Xavier Symposium is a philosophical discussion club where everyone is welcome! We meet weekly to explore a variety of topics together; previous discussions have covered themes such as love, conspiracy theories, the ethics of vegetarianism, and whether Skyline chili is actually chili.

Dear Symposium,

In my interactions as an RA and with friends, I’ve struggled to create and uphold appropriate boundaries between helping others and looking after my own business. How can I find an appropriate balance between these?

Hallee Schieber, sophomore

Dear Hallee,

There are several ways you could approach this. One symposium member emphasized the necessity of caring for yourself first, while another, who is originally from a collectivist culture, shared about his background. He explained that where he is from, it is expected that everyone helps each other and prioritizes the well-being of others or the group over immediate individual needs. This can lead to a sense of indebtedness, where when someone does something for you, you feel obligated to do something for them in return. This contributes to a smoothly functioning society but can be too much to handle at an individual level. There will always be others that need help, but there is only so much an individual can do.

Another contributor emphasized the need for balance. They described caring for others and caring for oneself as two endpoints on a spectrum. Shifting too far to either end of the spectrum can cause damage: caring for others too much can leave you drained of energy and behind on your own work, but caring for yourself too much can cause harm to your relationships with others. Be aware of your own tendencies and where on that spectrum you may fall at any given moment, and adjust from there.

Take care,

Xavier Symposium

Dear Symposium,

One dilemma that really troubles me is balancing the immense benefits of using AI in college with the risks it poses to authentic learning. On one hand, AI can provide personalized tutoring, instant feedback and access to a vast reservoir of knowledge that can empower students and help educators tailor instruction. On the other hand, there is a growing concern that over-reliance on AI may lead to academic dishonesty, reduced critical thinking and a loss of the creative, hands-on processes that are required for true learning. So, is using AI in college “good” or “bad?” 

Anonymous, junior

Dear Anonymous,

You make some excellent points here. Perhaps a good starting place is to look at what AI is capable of before trying to fit that into a practical use. Because AI is an algorithm that is trained to recognize patterns, it is very good at predicting and formulaic reasoning; that is what makes it good at writing and language tasks or solving math problems. What AI cannot do is tell the truth- it is unable to evaluate the quality or meaning of information, and it is difficult to find where it sources its information, so for any task that requires accuracy, AI cannot help you. 

So outside of this, where do you draw the line? As you and several contributors pointed out, it is extremely easy to become over-reliant on AI to the detriment of one’s learning and decision-making skills; that must certainly be avoided. However, some of our members did admit to using AI themselves and argued that it would be responsible to use it like a calculator: In complex assignments it can be used to perform simple tasks that one is already capable of doing manually in order to speed up the process and spend one’s energy doing the challenging work instead. This enables one to make use of the benefits (checking grammar, creating practice problems with answers, etc.), but also ensures that AI is not doing so much of the work that one’s skills suffer as a result. Above all, what matters most is having the experiences that lead to learning and expertise, so any line that is drawn around AI should prioritize that first.

Use your grey matter,

Xavier Symposium