- Some of the nation’s largest school districts are blocking San Francisco-based OpenAI’s new ChatGPT tool on school networks and devices.
- Education technology experts urge schools to train teachers and students on how to use ChatGPT and AI rather than ban it outright.
- OpenAI told USA TODAY that it is creating a way for teachers to catch students using a text generator to answer questions on tests or assignments.
Since ChatGPT came out in November, the nation’s largest school districts have banned AI chatbots, and anxious students will use the quick text generator to cheat or plagiarize.
Teachers and professors worry that the technology is making it too easy for students to use it as a shortcut to essays or writing assignments and other exams, and that it is creating content in a way that can bypass software that detects when students are using information that is not their own work.
Jumping in to ban the tool may not be the right course of action, however, education technology experts say: since AI will be part of the future for young people, it should also be part of the classroom now.
“Everyone talks about cheating. If you’re concerned about it, your ratings probably won’t be good to begin with,” said Richard Kulata, executive director of the nonprofit International Society for Technology in Education. “Children in school today go to jobs where not everyone they work with is human.”
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What is ChatGPT?
Anyone using ChatGPT can ask the chatbot a question on any topic and get a quick and detailed answer in the form of a paragraph. (GPT stands for Generative Pre-Trained Transformer.)
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A spokesperson for the San Francisco-based software company OpenAI, which owns the tool, said the company “has made ChatGPT available as a research preview to learn from real-world use, which we believe is an important part of developing and deploying secure and capable AI systems.”
On the website, it lists ChatGPT’s positive features as its ability to “remember what the user said earlier in the conversation” and “allow the user to provide follow-up corrections”, and how it is trained to “reject inappropriate requests”.
The company is upfront about some of the technology’s flaws.
for every OpenAI websiteA chatbot will sometimes “generate incorrect information” and “produce malicious instructions or biased content.” He lists a third issue: “Limited knowledge of the world and events after 2021”.
This month USA TODAY asked the chatbot, “Why do schools block ChatGPT?”
The chatbot replied: “I’m not aware of any schools that have specifically banned ChatGPT.” However, it is possible that some schools or educational institutions may have policies against the use of certain technology in the classroom or during exams, especially if it is considered a distraction or a potential aid to cheating. In addition, the use of AI models such as ChatGPT raises concerns Ethics about potential misuse of technology, such as impersonation or spreading disinformation.
“Therefore, some schools may choose to prohibit or restrict the use of these technologies as a precautionary measure.”
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Why do schools ban ChatGPT?
In the recent past, school officials’ concerns about technology have involved students bugging sites including Wikipedia and SparkNotes to gather information without doing their own research or reading.
With access to AI platforms that help with grammar, writing, and more, Kulata, whose organization offers teacher training in using AI in classrooms, said Kulata, teachers and children alike should learn how to work with it to prepare for the future.
More coaching is the plan in the Los Angeles Unified School District, said spokeswoman Shannon Hebert. LAUSD temporarily blocked access to ChatGPT and the OpenAI website in December to “protect academic dishonesty, while conducting a risk/benefit assessment.”
New York City Department of Education blocked ChatGPT this month from owned devices and networks for schools across the state. The department cited local school teachers’ concerns about students’ success. Oakland Consolidated in California and Seattle Public Schools has it Go to block For now, it’s ChatGPT, in part because it creates human-like responses that are hard to detect.
Despite the ban, the district is working to allow teachers to use them as part of lessons, said Tim Robinson, a spokesperson for Seattle Public Schools. The district also bans many other AI generators on school machines, including ReiterAnd Subject And Type SonicHe said.
The district wants AI to be used in schools, said John Sasaki, the spokesman, in Auckland, but not until teachers and educators are trained “in the ethical use of AI in order to avoid an overall negative impact on student learning.”
Other large school systems including Miami-Dade and Houston do not ban ChatGPT – yet.
“The district is looking into it,” said Jacqueline Calzadilla Diaz, a spokesman for the Miami-Dade district. At this point, no decision has been made yet.”
Kulata said many of the regions he works with don’t block the platforms either.
How do colleges and universities handle ChatGPT?
newly survey Of 1,000 college students surveyed by the online journal Intelligent, nearly 60% of the students used chatbot in more than half of all their assignments and 30% of them used ChatGPT in written assignments.
Some universities are concerned about how ChatGPT will affect students’ work and assessments, given the text’s originator Passed successfully CNN reported that graduate-level exams at the University of Minnesota and the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.
But unlike K-12 schools, bans are far and few in between. Universities including Princeton University They refuse to ban the chatbot, and instead advise professors to set their own policies. and New York University professors They advise Student vice reported not using ChatGPT.
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What should schools consider when it comes to ChatGPT?
Banning a specific platform may be far less effective than schools think.
Adam Viall said, An expert in educational technology and Director of Professional Learning and Leadership from All4Ed, a national nonprofit organization that advocates for traditionally disadvantaged students.
The OpenAI platform is one of the first of its kind to successfully generate a paragraph in response to user questions, but there are others like it out there. On TikTok, students share how similar AI-based tools created by other companies are helping school work.
“Are we going to have a conversation about how we’re going to unblock him? Or is it going to be: If we’re scared, let’s turn it off and move on to the next thing?” Phyall said.
Alternatively, schools could use ChatGPT to teach kids how to improve their writing, for example, he said.
The Culatta organization recommends that schools create rules about the use of ChatGPT.
However, he said, schools should have prepared teachers for AI long before it arrived. Other types of artificial intelligence used in the classroom Now including Mathematics Teaching Assistant Thinkster Matha virtual teaching assistant Jill Watsonand copy service a small difference.
“We’ve been watching the trend for years,” Kulata said. “This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone.”
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What do the creators of ChatGPT OpenAI say?
An OpenAI spokesperson said the company wants to help schools deal with their concerns and that users should be upfront about using AI-generated text. The spokesperson said that the company is working on a system for teachers to check whether students have used ChatGPT to cheat or plagiarize.
“We don’t want ChatGPT to be used for misleading purposes in schools or elsewhere, so we’re already developing mitigations to help anyone identify text generated by this system,” the spokesperson said in an email.
Contact Kayla Jimenez at kjimenez@usatoday.com. Follow her on Twitter @kaylajjimenez.