I remember being caught for plagiarism in grade four and the embarrassment that fell upon me when I got caught. In my case, I didn’t know exactly what plagiarism was, but from then on I always made sure that my work was 100% my own. Now, as I am a student at University, the punishment for plagiarism is far worse than getting talked to by your teacher. The student’s money and reputation at the school are on the line and the increased use of Artificial Intelligence in schools has increased due to the accessibility of it. I believe that we should learn to adapt to using Artificial Intelligence in our everyday lives, however, it should be used with regulation in professional environments.
The advancement of technology has been a long and timely process, from the creation of the printing press to the use of the calculator. Humanity has always been scared that over time, Artificial Intelligence (AI) would take over. There have been countless movies like WALL-E (2008) and The Terminator (1984) where they depict what the world would look like if AI did take over, these films show the fears of humanity where humans become incompatible to live by themselves. However, as some movies do show, we as an advanced generation need to learn how we can use AI as a support tool, to work hand in hand in creating new ideas and becoming exposed to different views. AI like ChatGPT has been around since November 2022, and schools have had varying responses from banning OpenAI (the creator of ChatGPT and DALL-E) to allowing it for all students to use as a resource. Kara Yorio (2023) wrote in her article, “[ChatGPT] can assist students and faculty in finding information on a wide range of topics, from general research to specific assignments…can assist students in generating ideas, writing outlines, and proofreading their work”.
[ChatGPT prompt: 3 reasons how AI & ChatGPT can help in education]
- Personalized Learning: AI algorithms can analyze the learning patterns of individual students and create personalized learning plans based on their strengths and weaknesses. This can help students to learn at their own pace and focus on areas where they need more support.
- Improved Access to Education: ChatGPT can provide 24/7 access to educational resources and support, helping to bridge the gap between traditional classroom learning and remote or online learning. This can be particularly beneficial for students who may not have access to quality education due to geographical or financial constraints.
- Enhanced Teaching and Learning: AI-powered educational tools and platforms can provide teachers with real-time feedback on student performance, allowing them to adjust their teaching strategies and provide targeted support where needed. Additionally, ChatGPT can provide instant answers to student queries, making the learning process more efficient and engaging.
Personally, the pros outweigh the cons of the use of ChatGPT and other AI sources and as I mentioned previously, schools already have either talked about or made it a policy that ChatGPT should be banned. No matter what happens, or what anyone says, people will continue to use ChatGPT or other AI resources to plagiarise, so what needs to happen is to make sure rules are set in place to avoid it. When assigning a paper, schools or classes can address certain rules with the allowance or prohibition of ChatGPT. These rules could allow ChatGPT to be used in writing but only be used as a prompt or outline to inform writing rather than replacing it. The creation of detectors for AIs like ChatGPT has been popular, like Edward Tian’s app called GPTZero. Tian is a 22-year-old senior at Princeton studying computer science and a minor in journalism who created GPTZero during his winter break to interpret if something was written by a human or ChatGPT (Bowman, 2023). Although it has some issues, GPTZero uses the indicators of “perplexity” and “burstiness” when deciphering if something is written by an AI (Bowman, 2023). Nonetheless, apps like GPTZero are being created to detect AI work, and with these resources, we as a society can allow AI in our work when it helps and supports us when we have proper guidelines in place.
“A computer, ChatGPT, has now successfully passed the United States Medical Licensure Exam (USMLE) without any training” (DiGiorgio, A., Ehrenfeld, J.M., 2023). Although they later state that AI cannot make diagnoses or treat diseases, it is still a fact that the technology is advancing so far that it can pass highly classed exams that humans take years to study for. For more background information, the USMLE is one of the hardest medical exams Americans need to take in their medical career. It takes around 7 hours to complete and is compiled of what you learned during your first 2 years of medical school. In the article, “Regulating ChatGPT and other Large Generative AI Models”, Hacker, P., Engel, A., & Mauer, M. (2023) wrote how “professional users should be obligated to disclose which parts of their publicly available content were generated by LGAIMs, or adapted based on their output.”. Their definition of professional includes: “a for-profit or a non-profit company, an NGO, an administrative agency, a court, or the legislator, for example…or any other entity from the groups of professional users just listed” (Hacker, P., Engel, A., & Mauer, M., 2023). When you are a professional, whether it be a student or lawyer, it is your responsibility to use your resources safely by using the proper regulations and precautions.
In conclusion, I believe that we should utilize ChatGPT for the better rather than think of all the bad things that it can do. Plagiarism has already been a big thing in Universities and ChatGPT has just made educators more aware of the steps that students may go through, but overall, with the proper regulations and clear guidelines, AI tools can do more benefit than it can harm.
References
YORIO, K. (2023). The ChatGPT Revolution. School Library Journal, 69(2), 10–12.
Bowman, E. (2023, January 9). A college student made an app to detect AI wrote an essay.NPR. https://www.npr.org/2023/01/09/1147549845/gptzero-ai-chatgpt-edward-tian-plagiarism
DiGiorgio, A., Ehrenfeld, J.M. Artificial Intelligence in Medicine & ChatGPT: De-Tether the Physician. J Med Syst 47, 32 (2023, March 4). https://doi-org.proxy.lib.sfu.ca/10.1007/s10916-023-01926-3
Hacker, P., Engel, A., & Mauer, M. (2023). Regulating ChatGPT and other Large Generative AI Models. https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2302.02337