I'm a non-traditional student and I have used AI to help with math.

Let me explain something. When I try to do a general search for help on how to solve a problem the top results in most search engines aren't the old Academy style videos of guides anymore. They are sponsored links, paid tutoring websites, and YouTube videos of people playing at influencer instead of teaching.

The same is true for researching most given topics.

I have tried to use AI ethically but I know it's problematic.

When trying to find sources the old academic websites still hold but finding those websites I had to ask AI with a crafted prompt. At times I did ask it to suggest papers a academic sources. I then used my own critical analysis to decide the sources biases and value for the source and explored around further by looking at the good papers source list.

I see the problems with AI but a boolean search only works so well these days.

Going back to math, I could watch a video, but it's sitting through precious time when an AI will answer my question directly and explain the reason I was wrong.

Even if I'm trying to use a math website that actually answers the problem, there will be pop-ups (on the phone) useless text (as if it's a damn recipe website) and possibly mathematical syntax that is above my course level.

Using the AI I can have that syntax explained.

I do understand that AI is a problem and I hate HATE getting info from a middle man like this but I complete understand why a student would.

I also see how tempting it is to just skip those extra steps and take an answer, but I know it also is often wrong. My verification steps and further digging ensures that the AI is returning valid info.

But why do students do it? Because the internet today is a slop bog that they have to navigate on thier phones. Often with minimal protection from ads and other useless garbage.