32 Sometimes I feel more comfortable with GenAI
Mofei Bai, Postgraduate Student, Digital Technologies and Education, United Kingdom
When studying, I use GenAI tools (such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Doubao, NotebookLM, and Speechify) to help me understand assignment requirements, read academic papers, brainstorm ideas, convert text into audio for listening, and adjust the structure of my writing. Sometimes, I also try using GenAI to generate the images I need. But most of the time, the images don’t match what I had in mind, even after I keep refining my prompts. The results are often far from satisfying.
When creating content, especially English videos where I speak on camera, I occasionally use AI-powered pronunciation tools to improve my audio, for example, this feature is available in Jianying (CapCut). This isn’t because I’m self-conscious about my accent, because I’m not, I just want to make sure my audience can understand me easily, and I do what I can to offer them a better viewing experience.
In daily life, I also enjoy using AI to learn English, because it allows me to ask questions anytime, follow up when I don’t understand something, and get instant answers. I believe no human teacher can be available like that around the clock. I even ask my GenAI companions about everyday problems I come across, and I sometimes use them when planning trips or organising my schedule.
I use AI tools to listen to written texts. I usually do this while resting with my eyes closed or taking a walk outside.
Due to language limitations, or specifically, the completely different grammatical and syntactic structures between Chinese and English, it’s not uncommon for Chinese learners like me to misunderstand long English sentences and take them to mean the opposite of what they actually say. So, I sometimes worry that I haven’t understood what an assignment is asking for. This is a common issue among many Chinese students. Several of my classmates have received low grades as they misunderstood the task requirements. When reading academic papers, I use AI tools to summarise the text in Chinese. This helps me quickly grasp the main points of the paper and decide whether it’s relevant to my research. Once I get a general idea of what the article is about, it also becomes easier for me to understand the original English version. Since I personally read English texts quite slowly and sometimes struggle to identify where one sense group ends and another begins, I use tools like Speechify to listen to written texts. I usually do this while resting with my eyes closed or taking a walk outside. This method greatly improves my learning efficiency and saves me time.
Lastly, I rarely used office software from my previous work and daily life, and my skills were limited to basic text input. Now that AI-powered formatting tools are highly developed and easy to use, I simply let them reformat my written content based on specific requirements. After that, I make small manual adjustments as needed.
GenAI has become a valuable companion in my learning process. It allows me to test ideas, clarify confusing concepts, and explore different perspectives through continuous dialogue. This interactive process has improved my efficiency in study, work, and daily life, especially when dealing with complex or unfamiliar content. Although I’m not someone who lacks confidence or feels shy about asking questions, I’ve sometimes found I am hesitant to speak up in class since coming to the UK. The main reason is that I worry the question I want to ask might already have been covered by the lecturer, but due to my limited English proficiency, I didn’t fully understand or catch it. I’m concerned that asking such a question might make it seem like I wasn’t paying attention, which could offend the lecturer or leave a negative impression. I also worry that asking too many questions about vocabulary or concepts I didn’t understand might slow down the class. Because of this, I often turn to ChatGPT during or after class to clarify my doubts first, before deciding whether further questions are necessary. This helps me learn more efficiently and relieves a lot of psychological pressure.
Even though universities have strict rules prohibiting teachers from judging students based on these things, in reality, people judge you anywhere, anytime. GenAI doesn’t judge me, or to put it another way, even if it did judge me, it can’t lower my assignment grades because of it. This allows me to ask detailed questions and speak freely when using these tools to study. I love GenAI.
