Essen.
The summer semester becomes the first “ChatGPT semester”: Experts warn of the risks of using the revolutionary voice robot at universities.
Are you still texting or already chatting? Students and schoolchildren may be tempted to use language models such as ChatGPT instead of tediously writing down their own research. Artificial intelligence (AI)-based programs like the recently updated voice robot ChatGPT compose text on request that reads like it was written by smart people. This turns previous teaching and examination formats upside down. Before the start of the summer semester at the beginning of April, the universities in NRW are preparing at full speed to integrate the revolutionary system into courses and examinations. But how?
All universities should “unleash the full power of AI systems such as ChatGPT for training,” is the demand of an expert paper from the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart. As early as the summer semester, the students are to use the language robot in a number of pilot projects, the university announced and thus apparently sees itself as a nationwide pioneer.
Weaknesses and Risks of ChatGPT
Preparing courses, designing exams, studying for exams and preparing seminar papers – the university sees enormous potential in all areas of study and teaching. “If the students and lecturers use the new tools in a well thought-out, efficient and responsible manner, the entire higher education system could benefit greatly,” Prof. Henner Gimpel, head of the Digital Management department, is convinced.
Others are less euphoric and still see significant weaknesses and risks when using AI language models. So far, the chatbot has hardly been suitable for scientific work, says Prof. Erich Schubert, Professor for data mining at the chair for artificial intelligence at the TU Dortmund. “I will discuss how to use ChatGPT in my seminars, but I will essentially warn against using it,” says the computer scientist.
Helpful for creative tasks
Because ChatGPT likes to produce wrong answers and invent sources for all more complex questions – the experts speak of “hallucinating”. According to Schubert, this could cause students “quite a few problems”. Using such language models “can backfire if you are naïve about it”.
At his chair in the Faculty of Computer Science, he has already tested various language models and tried out whether and how they can be used in teaching, for example as a tutor system, i.e. as a kind of intelligent learning aid. “The only problem is: you keep making mistakes!” ChatGPT is helpful for creative tasks, as a source of ideas or as a formulation aid – it has so far been less suitable for “fact-based work”.
The fear of the blank sheet
It is similar to Dr. Peter Salden, Head of the Center for Science Didactics at the Ruhr-Uni Bochum. ChatGPT can help to avoid the proverbial “fear of the blank slate”. The language robot is also useful as a dialogue partner when brainstorming ideas. However, there is a risk that students trust the digital tool too much and are not aware that the fluently formulated answers are not necessarily scientifically correct.
Already in 2020 the project at the Ruhr-Uni “KI:edu.nrw – didactics, ethics and technology of artificial intelligence in higher education” started. The Bochum University is a “pilot university” in NRW to test the effects of AI applications at universities. She recently published with the University of Münster on behalf of the state government an expert opinion as the first legal assessment of AI writing tools at universitiesfor example on questions of authorship and plagiarism.
Training and information needed
All faculties are currently dealing intensively with the topic, explains Salden. Of course, ChatGPT can no longer be banned from universities or even banned. That doesn’t even make sense. “In our estimation, AI-based text creation tools will be a natural part of the academic work environment,” says Salden. Intensive preparations for the use of ChatGPT, information, training and exchange are now important for everyone involved. Remarkable: The modern system makes classic learning goals more important again, such as critical thinking and questioning as well as method-based work.
Also Schubert offers his students at the TU Dortmund corresponding seminars. They would have to learn to check the texts formulated by the robot carefully, because they would ultimately have to answer for mistakes or even plagiarism themselves. The university teachers are now sensitized to the topic and take a closer look to see whether statements in student work are correct and documented.
New exam formats
“In terms of exams, ChatGPT is in many cases just another way to write off,” says Schubert. “Anyone who does this has only themselves to blame because they don’t learn much – and may mess up their grades.” One consequence will be that online exams like during the Corona period will no longer be possible in the future. “With ChatGPT it would be much easier to cheat. There will therefore certainly be a return to the classic paper exam and oral exams.” Salden confirms that some university teachers are already starting to supplement written tasks with oral questions.
The University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE) is also preparing for the use of ChatGPT in teaching and exams. Based on the legal opinion of the universities of Bochum and Münster, uniform recommendations for action are currently being developed so that the students do not have to struggle with different requirements, the university announced.
Excited debate like the calculator
Prof. Stefan Rumann, Prorector for Studies and Teaching at the UDE, pleads for calmness in the heated debate about ChatGPT: “In the future, a change in the examination requirements away from reproductive tasks and towards a competence-oriented understanding of the text is definitely an opportunity,” says Rumann. The concerned discussion about the voice robot reminded him of the introduction of the pocket calculator in the 1970s.
The bottom line is that ChatGPT does not necessarily make scientific work for students and teachers any easier, notes the Dortmund computer scientist Schubert. Because you not only have to learn how to use these systems and know how they work, but also to recognize and improve the errors of the AI. That means: “You have to be better than the AI in the future.”
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