Is Using AI the Same as Cheating?

AI is becoming part of our everyday lives and our work. As that happens, I sometimes wonder what all those years of memorizing facts and formulas for exams were really for. If we can now ask AI almost anything, where exactly is the line between using a tool and cheating?

When I use AI in my daily life and at work, there are times when all the effort I once put into studying for exams starts to seem almost ridiculous.

What, after all, is the difference between cheating on a test and asking AI for help?

These days, it sometimes feels as though almost every online news article has been touched by AI in some way—or was written by AI from the beginning.

There were occasional exams where we were allowed to bring in an English dictionary. But in today’s world, does it still make sense to ban computers or smartphones from an exam room?

In history class, we were expected to memorize exact dates down to the year, month, and day. Yet most of that disappeared from memory as soon as the exam was over. The same is true of formulas in mathematics and physics. How many of them do we really need to memorize?

When it comes to tests that are little more than exercises in memorization, perhaps it is enough to understand the general picture. With formulas, what matters is how to use them, not whether they have been hidden from us and successfully memorized.

Even with foreign languages, using automatic translation on a smartphone may ultimately allow us to communicate our intentions more accurately.

A time when the very concept of “cheating” begins to lose its meaning might actually be rather interesting.

Still, we will probably continue to need memorization, because there will always be situations in which AI is unavailable and we have to think for ourselves. If so, tests designed to make sure that we have truly learned something may remain necessary.

And in the end, using AI well requires abilities of our own.

To make proper use of AI, we still need to accumulate knowledge and experience until they become part of us.

 AI may change what we need to memorize, but it does not eliminate the need to build knowledge of our own.

Vocabulary for Learners
cheating
Breaking the rules in an exam or test to get an unfair advantage.
カンニング、不正行為

memorization
The process of learning something so that you can remember it exactly.
暗記

formula
A mathematical or scientific rule written with numbers or symbols.
公式

automatic translation
Translation done automatically by a computer, smartphone, or AI system.
自動翻訳

general picture
The main idea or overall understanding of something, rather than every detail.
大まかな全体像

think for oneself
To form one’s own ideas or judgments without depending completely on others.
自分で考える

make proper use of
To use something in an appropriate and effective way.
適切に活用する

accumulate knowledge and experience
To gradually build up knowledge and experience over time.
知識や経験を蓄える

become part of us
To become deeply learned or absorbed so that it naturally influences how we think and act.
自分の血肉となる