New York City departments have banned access to ChatGPT in their schools. A decision which reflects a broader fear of the teaching staff in the face of this tool specializing in artificial intelligence.
ChatGPT, a new nightmare for teachers after Wikipedia? The arrival of this conversational agent, capable of writing texts in natural language on the basis of requests made by Internet users, is viewed with concern by some teachers. Already, restriction measures are emerging to limit access and use of ChatGPT.
A recent example comes from the United States. The department in charge of education in the city of New York has decided to ban this tool based on algorithms and processes derived from artificial intelligence. A banishment that can only be partial, necessarily. Only computer workstations in schools are concerned.
Quoted by Motherboard On January 4, the department’s spokesperson confirmed that the ban applied to New York public school networks and devices, due to ” concerns about content security and accuracy “. The city authorities consider that the unsupervised use of ChatGPT risks having a negative impact on learning.
” While the tool may be able to provide quick and easy answers to questions, it does not develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills, which are essential for academic achievement and lifelong success. of life “, continued the representative of the department.
This new policy nevertheless has a gaping flaw as it stands: nothing can prevent students today from connecting to ChatGPT from their home and asking it to do certain homework for them. The strong measure by the department is restricted to its strict perimeter. The other computers, the other access points, escape it.
Varying effectiveness of ChatGPT depending on the subjects
In fact, ChatGPT’s academic abilities give mixed results. The application developed by OpenAI does generate text and responses on demand, but the accuracy of its returns is not always excellent. Many successful and unsuccessful examples have been circulating on Twitter since the chatbot went public in November 2022.
He has certainly shown an excellent ability to summarize, synthesize or present a concept – of philosophy, for example –. But, it shows more its limits if it is necessary to present an original reflection or in certain other exercises. In the case of mathematical calculations, some operations beyond the elementary stage were not correctly solved.
It is probably easy for a teacher to spot an assignment produced by ChatGPT. For example, when it contains one or more obvious errors, or if the quality of the answer does not correspond to the real level of the student – or contrasts too much with the level he is supposed to have at his age. But, in other cases, determining what is from a student or from ChatGPT might be impossible.
Will ChatGPT be the new cheating eldorado for students ? This is what worries teachers through various testimonies reported on social networks and in the press. Cases are beginning to rise elsewhere, such as this case reported by the DailyMail about a student who used ChatGPT to write a philosophy dissertation in South Carolina.
Fears reminiscent of those that targeted Wikipedia and the smartphone
This concern about how education will have to deal with ChatGPT is reminiscent of another relatively similar debate that took place a few years earlier, and which sometimes comes up sporadically: Wikipedia. From the mid-2000s, there were also concerns that students copied too much of the online encyclopedia for homework.
It’s a debate which has not only affected Wikipedia. It also took place with the smartphone, now in all the pockets of the students – from college and sometimes even before. Each time, the temptation was to immediately ban these changes, for fear of the harmful effects they could have on student learning.
Is that the case ? In any case, the digital revolution forces education to evolve and change educational culture. It is hard to believe that it will be possible to permanently block ChatGPT and its evolutions (as well as its future competitors). We had to deal with smartphones and Wikipedia, for lack of being able to ban them. Perhaps it will take more learning to learn, to know how to navigate in a digital environment where all the answers can be found or generated in a click.
