Israeli students say AI is now part of academic life, but not a substitute for real preparation

In a conversation during Calcalist and Google’s AI Week, Reichman University business student Shelly Knaiv and Ben-Gurion University data engineering student Shahar Benzaraf discussed how AI is changing academic work. The session was moderated by Hanit Marinov, Google Israel’s vice president of marketing. Knaiv summed up her view with a warning to students: arrive at exams prepared yourselves, not with the AI doing the work for you.

Both students said university study has changed dramatically, especially in recent months. Knaiv said that in her first year, AI felt like “an elephant in the room,” but now the university encourages its use, while lecturers teach students how to prompt properly, whether for marketing landing pages or data science tools. Benzaraf said the shift in the last half-year has been especially strong, and that he uses Gemini as a personal learning assistant for summaries and even complex algorithms.

They both stressed that AI should support understanding, not replace it. Knaiv said she asks Gemini to summarize lectures, create presentations and podcasts, and even help her prepare for quizzes, but only after she has attended the classes and checked the output. Benzaraf called AI a probabilistic tool and said students must remain critically engaged because “in the exam we will be alone, without artificial intelligence.”

The two also described rising competition among students because AI makes it easier for almost anyone to produce impressive work. Knaiv said the key question is what personal value a student brings alongside AI. Benzaraf advised starting with prompts that break material into subtopics and create a structured path for studying. Knaiv urged students to use tools like NotebookLM, flashcards and summaries, but to make sure they themselves are ready for the exam and to keep learning AI tools so they remain relevant in the job market.