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A recent hot topic in society has been the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly that of ChatGPT, and its potential to heighten levels of cheating, plagiarism, and overall deception in our daily lives.
The rise of highly advanced AI chatbots has been on the horizon for quite some time, with most of the technology we interact with daily being automated or programmed to respond in a certain manner. For instance, the ability to deposit checks from a mobile device, Netflix's recommendation system, and self-checkouts are all examples of automated systems that employ artificial intelligence.
However, those examples are relatively limited in their response to prompts, most often built within a limited framework that is only designed to complete certain tasks. The advancement of chatbot capabilities, however, has increased exponentially over the past decade.
When I first got an iPod over a decade ago, there were several popular chatbot apps that I used. The most notable was SimSimi - an artificial intelligence conversation program that was developed in 2002. However, SimSimi was relatively limited in its responses. Sometimes it could not understand a question, which was likely due to the lack of advanced technology several years ago.
Much like SimSimi, the new AI chatbot feature on Snapchat (a popular social media app) is highly limited in its ability to answer complex questions, tends to forget past comments, and struggles to understand slang terms and misspellings.
ChatGPT, the new chatbot from OpenAI, does not struggle in this way. In fact, the chatbot rarely flounders when asked a question, no matter the difficulty level or analytical skills required of a human to do the same. While testing the chatbot in some of my college courses, we watched the program churn out paragraph after paragraph of research that would have taken us several days to compile.
So, how exactly does it work? According to the New York Times, ChatGPT operates "by making probabilistic guesses about which bits of text belong together in a sequence, based on a statistical model trained on billions of examples of text pulled from all over the internet."
This may seem scary. A non-sentient being has the capabilities to do homework, predict sentences, and potentially take people's jobs. While it takes me roughly an hour or two to draft an article, ChatGPT is able to do it in seconds.
Yes, technological innovation can be scary, especially when we do not fully understand its capabilities. But rather than fight the inevitable use of AI (especially in educational settings), we should work to better understand ChatGPT, embrace its capabilities, and manipulate it to work in our favor.
The use of AI chatbots in classrooms does not seem to be that big of an issue to me. ChatGPT is not the first innovation in technology that has directly affected how our education system operates, causing teachers and professors to fear the end of schooling as they know it. When hand-held calculators first debuted in the late 1960s, educators thought that the study of math had ended.
But rather than cower in fear from the calculator's advanced capabilities, we learned to evolve lesson plans and use advanced calculator programs to challenge students. Calculators simplified pages-long mathematical equations to the click of a few buttons but retained the formulaic complexity required of students to learn.
What makes ChatGPT, or AI in general, any different?
The main skill required of students in my college department is writing. While essay writing is a great skill to have, it must be taught thoroughly in order to be effective. In my experience, college-level students are expected by professors to already know how to structure their research papers and persuasive essays.
This is unfortunately not the case, however, which makes ChatGPT and similar chatbots an easy alternative for students who either do not have the time to conduct research or may struggle with translating their thoughts into the written word.
In my opinion, if ChatGPT can easily produce my homework, is enough critical thinking being asked of me as a college student?
ChatGPT is telling us that the current way we are operating in the classroom needs to change, particularly when it comes to discussion and participation-based learning. According to a study published in the Journal on Excellence in Public Teaching, "more than 70% [of students] drew a positive connection between their own participation in discussion-based learning and success in their classes."
Therefore, I and many other students learn more when we connect with others, have open conversations, and apply concepts to the real world. While writing and research should continue to be taught in the classroom, artificial intelligence is telling us these lessons must now be presented in a way that requires in-class engagement.
Students must be directly involved in the learning process. They should not just be talked at in a lecture style and be expected to gain any knowledge. If we encourage students to participate in discussions, which will subsequently motivate them to learn, they will not feel the need to have ChatGPT do their homework for them.
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Andie Balenger is a native of Gladstone and is currently attending Northern Michigan University. Her column focuses on college life and runs Thursdays in the Daily Press.