ChatGPT and Education Pt. 2
Last week, we ended part one of the discussion noting how some colleges, such as the University of Vermont in Burlington, are updating their academic integrity policies to include generative A.I. technology. Essentially, they will treat the use of such technology as plagiarism. Other schools, including George Washington University and Rutgers, have other ideas. Starting this academic year, many departments plan to start phasing out take-home assignments and will instead replace the assignments with in-class writing exercises and exams. Some are even going so far as to bring back the old-school handwritten assignment. But many of these professors are still concerned that students will find some way around these limitations and will still use the A.I. for their homework. These professors are trying to think of more nuanced ways of writing essays. Instead of assigning the usual introduction-body paragraphs with evidence-conclusion essays that are typical in college, some professors are trying to come up with essay prompts that are too detailed and clever for the A.I. to successfully comprehend.
The good news, for now, is that the demand for this technology is so great that the technology can’t keep up. If you go to the ChatGPT website, you will likely have to sign up on the waitlist to even create an account because so many people are currently using it. However, this setback is only temporary. OpenAI, the inventors of ChatGPT, are getting ready to release GPT-4, an even more advanced version of ChatGPT. Additionally, both Google and Microsoft are working on their own rival chatbots. So it’s only a matter of time before these chatbots flood the market making this technology even more accessible to students.
However, OpenAI isn’t ignorant of the concerns their technology has created. According to the New York Times, a spokesperson for OpenAI has confirmed that they are aware that students are using this technology for reasons that go against academic integrity guidelines. In response, OpenAI is creating a system that educators can use to detect if a piece of writing was created using generative technology. And, several educators from schools such as Harvard and Yale have already signed up to use a program currently called GPTZero which can detect the use of generative technology. GPTZero was created by a Princeton senior in hopes that it would dissuade students from using the chatbots to cheat. This program is expected to be ready in the near future.
To date, there is no single technology that can help educators detect A.I. generated work. For now, professors will have to rely on their instincts and/or trust their students until the detection technology is made available. So it seems as though this story is only just beginning. We will continue to provide updates as they become available.
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