Can TU Delft students continue without ChatGPT? ‘I sometimes feel guilty about using it’

At secondary school, Ravi Achterkamp “never found Dutch a very interesting subject”. So when he discovered ChatGPT, which he can use to generate huge pieces of text in seconds, he immediately used it to write an essay. At the time unsuccessfully. “The text was so bad that I did not dare hand it in.”

But since that first attempt when he was still in secondary school, the technological progress has continued unabated. “I would not pass a lot of subjects without AI,” says the now 20 year old Ravi. Chatbots in particular are an essential part of his life as a third year Electrical Engineering bachelor’s student at TU Delft.

When OpenAI, the American tech company, launched ChatGPT on the market in November 2022, the chatbot had one million users within one week. A real AI race then followed. Google and Microsoft launched their own chatbots and AI generated photos and videos were everywhere on the internet.

Generative AI is now completely embedded in society, including in student life. Almost half of 18 to 24 year olds include it in their repertoire, concluded the CBS (Statistics Netherlands) in 2024. This is not without risks at universities. The Free University of Amsterdam recently accused a student of very obvious AI fraud.

‘I often make a few minor mistakes here and there so that my AI use is less visible’

Delta talked to four TU Delft students about this new reality. What do they use Chat, as they affectionately call ChatGPT, for? Have they ever been reprimanded for using it? And do they feel guilty?

• Check out the video below for our street interviews!

What do you use AI for? 

Bob Gilijamse (21, Architecture master’s student): “I mostly use it to collate the literature. I ask Chat  ‘what points is this text making?’, and I then use the summaries to study for an exam. It took a while before I dared do this. At first I thought that while we can all use AI to generate things, I would look like an idiot if it were wrong.”

“When I started my bachelor, I mostly used Chat to explain mathematical tasks, like a kind of coaching teacher,” says Electrical Engineering student Ravi.

He also relies on AI for a lot of programming subjects. “I recently had to have a robot car drive from A to B. I thought up a code and had it checked by AI. By the way, I mostly use Google’s Gemini for this. It’s a bit better at this than Chat, and the paid version is now free for students for one year.”

Max (preferably no surname given) who is 26 years old and a Robotics second year master’s student, uses AI a lot for programming. “It means that I can squeeze in my studies in two days a week and can almost work full time on the side.”

Do you also have Chat write your texts?

Max: “I’m careful about that. ChatGPT has a particular style of writing that I don’t really like. On top of that it’s quite easy to spot.”

Isabel (22, first year master’s student of Complex System Engineering, also prefers we do not use her surname) is less cautious. “I write some leading sentences and then get ChatGPT to use them to write an introduction. After that I adjust the writing here and there, but it does save a lot of time.”

 Are there no rules for this?

Isabel: “Not really. I don’t know anybody who has had any problems because of it. AI is often briefly referred to at the first lecture. But after that they mostly give tips on how to use it wisely.” Ravi is even more adamant. “I didn’t see any single AI rule at all during my whole bachelor.”

Bob: “Forbidding it makes little sense and the teachers know this. We have to submit a statement in each subject describing the degree to which we used AI.”

Max: “By coincidence my faculty, Mechanical Engineering, recently issued new rules. The policy now is that you may use AI unless a teacher says otherwise. A teacher in one subject tried to forbid AI, but was not able to enforce it.”

Are you never told off?

Max: “I often make a few minor mistakes here and there so that my AI use is less visible. But I once had a whole code written by ChatGPT two hours before the deadline and submitted it as it was and had no penalties.”

Ravi: “When I was under time pressure I have sometimes had AI write two headings of a report. I don’t think the teacher realised it was generated by AI, but he did say that it was wrong and asked me to do it again.”

Bob: “A classmate regularly has whole texts written by AI. His answers were regularly featured during lectures as the teacher thought they were so good. It makes you wonder if the teachers are actually aware.”

 Do you think that all that use of ChatGPT has disadvantages too? 

Bob: “At first, when I had AI generate the summaries, I didn’t even check them. I just believed that they were good. But during my exam I did feel pressured.”

“After a while it did start becoming worrying. I sometimes feel a bit guilty about it. It would feel ‘illegal’ if I earn my degree but have done half of it using AI. I actually only realised this this year when doing my master’s. So I am trying to use it less.”

‘AI is a bit like flying and eating meat. I actually want to stop, but it’s hard’

Isabel too uses AI more than she would like. “I often ask Chat for advice immediately instead of thinking about what I should do. It means that I am not learning how to think critically properly.”

Ravi: “I am mostly worried about AI’s huge water and energy consumption. So I want to be less dependent on it, but I don’t know if I can do programming without it.”

Max also has a moral objection. “OpenAI openly declares its support for President Trump. But there are as yet not really European alternatives for ChatGPT. For me it’s a bit like flying and eating meat. I actually want to stop, but it’s hard.”

 Are you happy that you are studying during the AI era?

Bob: “All things considered, I am happy that it is around, as long as we use it consciously.” My teachers emphasise a lot that even if you use AI, you must continue to think critically. I see this less and less around me.”

Ravi: “I think that someone who did Electrical Engineering 10 years ago learned to programme and write better. That’s why I sometimes worry that our degrees will ultimately be seen as less valuable.”

Still, Ravi is happy that he is studying now. “Otherwise I would probably have taken longer to complete my study. And it doesn’t really matter for exams as you can’t do them with AI. So in the end you have to learn everything anyway.”

In Isabel’s ideal world, ChatGPT was never created. “But it is here now so it’s good that I can learn to use it while studying. I do think though that group projects do need to be adapted as some of them have become too easy.”

And Max? He assumes that the AI era is yet to start. “We are in a transition period. It is very interesting to follow its course, but I am hesitant. We will only really see the impact in 20 years’ time.”