In a letter addressed to Sciences Po teachers, the establishment’s director of training and research announced that the use of ChatGPT by students is prohibited.
ChatGPT has become a major concern in the education world. In fact, since its launch in November 2022, the chatbot, capable of writing essays or holding a conversation in a natural way, has attracted many students attracted by the possibilities offered by the tool developed by OpenAI.
On the side of its detractors, ChatGPT is rather accused of promoting cheating and plagiarism. This is why the Paris Institute of Political Studies, commonly known as Sciences Po, has decided to ban its students from using ChatGPT reports, this Wednesday, January 25, a newsletter from the establishment for school teachers.
Penalties envisaged in case of breach
“This tool [ChatGPT]which uses artificial intelligence (AI), strongly questions education and research actors around the world on the subject of fraud in general, and plagiarism in particular”, explains in the preamble Sergeï Guriev , director of training and research at Science Po, pointing out that certain territories, New York City in particular, have already banned the use of ChatGPT within their schools and universities.
Also, “the use of ChatGPT at Sciences Po, or any other tool using AI is, with the exception of pedagogical use supervised by a teacher, for the moment strictly prohibited during the production of written or oral work by students under penalty of sanctions which can go as far as exclusion from the establishment or even from higher education”, writes Sergei Guriev, director of training and research.
Teachers will have to adapt to this new era
The emergence of tools like ChatGPT will not be without consequences on the way of teaching and the knowledge provided at Science Po continues Sergeï Guriev. According to the latter, these solutions will inevitably lead to having to “change teaching practices and teaching evaluations”.
In this context, Sciences Po will organize a conference “on the teaching and research of the future, in an ecosystem where AI is taking an increasingly important place”, specifies Sergeï Guriev.
