Every time I try to look something up, Gemini gets there first. It slides AI-written answers above every Google search, with tidy summaries and bright links that lead exactly where it wants you to go. ChatGPT launched on November 30, 2022, during my freshman year, and it hit a million users in less than a week. By the time my sophomore year began, more than 100 million people were using it. OpenAI has gone further, releasing its own browser, built so ChatGPT doesn’t just answer questions but reads, summarizes, and acts on your behalf. It remembers what you view, anticipates what you’ll want, and folds your habits into its logic.

AI is obviously impressive. I use it the way most of my friends do to make sense of something, to test an idea, or to get unstuck. What I’m skeptical of is the guilt it’s wrapped in and the shrinking of curiosity that comes with it.

The difference in how people talk about AI is what gets me. It could’ve been the first real chance for students and teachers to learn something new side by side. Now, teachers are in private Google Docs figuring out how to automate grading, and students in private tabs trying to figure out how not to get caught. The irony is that both sides are learning from the same bot, just in different tones of shame.

If we’re going to teach “AI literacy,” we should begin with honesty. It’s already part of how everyone learns. The real question is whether we admit it. Who gets to call it learning and who gets called a cheater?