How College Students are Utilizing AI Ethically
How College Students are Utilizing AI Ethically
July 14, 2026
Current events, Robotics & High-Tech
Students walking on BGU campus.
Calcalist Tech—At Calcalist and Google’s AI Week last month, a conversation about the use of artificial intelligence in academia was moderated by Hanit Marinov, Country Marketing Manager for Google in Israel, and featured Shachar Ben-Zeref, a data engineering student at BGU. Here is what Shachar had to say in the interview:
It is clear to all of us that the study experience has changed dramatically. What can be done today is not what could be done five years ago, and even in the last six months there has been tremendous progress. AI has reshuffled the deck. How has artificial intelligence changed your life?
Ben-Zeref: “I really feel that the change over the past six months has been dramatic. In my studies, I use Gemini as a personal learning assistant, for summarizing material and helping with complex algorithms. The best approach, in my opinion, is to focus on understanding, not copying and pasting. You need to understand the path and process used to arrive at the answer because, in the end, you’ll be alone in the exam room, without artificial intelligence.”
Where is the ethical line between what you do yourself and what you rely on AI tools to do?
Ben-Zeref: “Academia has undergone a major change. In some cases, we’re even asked to save our prompts and export files showing how we used Gemini to arrive at our answers, mainly so that lecturers can understand our thought process.”
How do you deal with AI errors?
Ben-Zeref: “It’s a probabilistic tool. We use something that analyzes data and provides quick answers. Once you understand it’s probabilistic, you understand that not every answer will be accurate. What sharpens our skills as students is recognizing that critical thinking remains our responsibility.”
According to him, the quality of the output depends heavily on the user. “The more critically we think and the more involved we are in crafting prompts, the better the results will be, especially when we aren’t simply relying on ready-made outputs but are actively shaping them ourselves.”
What are the challenges of using AI in learning?
Ben-Zeref: “There is an abundance of tools today. There are AI tools for coding, podcast creation, editing, and much more. The challenge is matching the right tool to the right task. If I simply use tools in a fire-and-forget manner, I won’t end up with good results. The key is choosing the right tool.”
Do you have any advice for students? What should they do?
Ben-Zeref: “My advice is to start by asking AI to summarize the material by subtopics before diving into complex questions. Have it organize the content according to the logical order of understanding. That creates a structured thought process and helps you prepare more effectively for exams.”
Read the full interview on Calcalist Tech
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