2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

ChatGPT was launched on November 30, 2022, by the San Francisco-based artificial intelligence (AI) provider, OpenAI. Within a year, this tool has been widely adopted for tasks such as writing papers, solving engineering problems, programming, and much more. This paper explores the growing use of AI by college students and faculty. By embracing OpenAI and similar tools, we aim to demonstrate how these technologies can be used effectively and ethically to enhance learning. We specifically examine how AI has been integrated into several engineering courses and consider potential methods for measuring improvements in learning and other academic outcomes.
ChatGPT, in particular, has been extensively used by students for writing code, debugging code, refining term papers, and understanding complex problems. In several Fall 2024 classes, students reported increasing reliance on ChatGPT for assistance with their academic assignments. We present several examples where students were encouraged to consult ChatGPT for help in completing projects and assignments. In almost every case, we found that students greatly benefited from AI assistance. For instance, students who were stuck on specific algebraic problems or programming tasks were able to quickly access help or debug code, enabling them to continue working productively instead of becoming frustrated. To support our findings, we provide student testimonials and examples that illustrate the positive impact of AI on their learning experience.
Finally, Mechanical Engineering (ME) has become increasingly multidisciplinary in nature, requiring students to address problem areas where they may have limited training or experience. We argue that AI has enabled students to tackle increasingly complex programming problems and other projects more efficiently than was possible in previous years without the use of AI.