As AI continues to take over the vast destinations of the interweb, it brings new inventions and variations to the everyday online tools we use. Although not always for the better, AI is constantly showing us how we can use it in new ways. Grammarly is one of the most used AI-powered writing assistants on the internet, and has been for longer than you’d think.
Founded in 2009, Grammarly is a company that uses generative AI to help students learn how to improve their writing in real time. So why would this seemingly harmless tool start to feel threatening to teachers and administrators now?
I have used Grammarly for most of my junior and senior high school career. It serves as a supervisor who shares feedback on things that might help improve my writing. It doesn’t take my voice out of my writing or rewrite my ideas, but helps me make them clearer and more concise from an academic standpoint. It isn’t a rewriting tool but an advice generator that gives feedback along with explanations. It may look like a cheap, easy way for students to cheat on papers, but it is only a simple tutor.
LAUSD has recently blocked Grammarly from being downloadable via Chrome Extensions. In a time when AI is taking over almost everything on the internet, I can understand how the involvement of AI in Grammarly may seem sketchy or unnecessary, but like I said, I use it all the time and never for anything more than genuine help. I am surrounded by peers who use it and find it extremely helpful, not only for clarity but also for basic grammar and punctuation.
Sometimes, when you’re speed-writing a multiple-page essay due by the end of the night, you don’t have the time to carefully scrutinize every sentence and word you write. In a homework-heavy society, a little bit of help now and then can be very impactful. Students see and understand their mistakes by having tools like Grammarly help point them out, and by learning from this, they become better writers and even better readers.
It’s not a harmful extension or even a gross use of AI, and banning it across LAUSD appears as insecure overkill. Grammarly isn’t a crutch to students but a guide, and in a world where proper communication skills are lacking, that is something we shouldn’t take for granted.
