Warangal: While the hot topic around the world is the threat artificial intelligence (AI) poses to jobs, many rural students in Warangal and Karimnagar districts are unaware of one of the disruptive technologies of the current era.

With the exception of students pursuing engineering and medical courses, those in other fields of academic interest rarely use AI language tools to understand their subjects.

Dr D Vijay Prakash, professor of English at Satavahana University, said that students taking language courses must be proficient in the subject. “I can’t make mistakes in grammar or sentence formation. So many students take the help of ChatGPT. By reading their assignments, we can easily understand whether they prepared the paper on their own or used language tools.”

This talent, however, is not visible among all faculty members. Some teachers are blissfully ignorant of the advances in AI and therefore cannot identify the harm their students are doing. They are not aware of any apps that could identify AI-generated text or human text.

Dr M. Estari, professor of zoology at Kakatiya University, said many students pursuing their studies at the university come from rural backgrounds and are not good at English.

Anjali, a contract lecturer working at a girls’ college in Jammikunta, said many girls come from rural areas and are not aware of any AI language tools. They just listen to their lecturers and follow them. If they are asked to look something up online or on a computer or mobile, they just do it.

Even when lecturers tell students to take the help of ChatGPT or any other AI tool, students from rural backgrounds seek the help of lecturers for using these applications, she added.

Medical student A. Navadeep said many doctors use ChatGPT to get a clear description of some of the medical terms they come across when studying their subjects.

Engineering student G.Venkatesh said that engineering students not only use language tools but also many other applications which are useful for them to understand their subjects easily. “But if they are completely dependent on these tools, they might not perform well in exams because the lecturers will not allow any mobile device or gadget to enter the exam hall,” he added.