ChatGPT Cheating
What to Know About ChatGPT Cheating
The technology of artificial intelligence (AI) is taking the world by storm, and it has definitely found its way into education. Specifically, the chatbot, ChatGPT, has caught the eye of educators and students alike because of its many uses, including the dangerous potential for cheating. If you’re unsure what ChatGPT is and how to deal with its ramifications, you’re in the right place. We’ll jump into the defining ChatGPT and AI, as well as its long-term impacts on education.
What is ChatGPT?
Before we get into the details of AI on learners, it’s important to understand what ChatGPT is and why it’s gaining in popularity. The tool is a form of generative AI, which is a technology that creates new content and outputs based on data or algorithms. Don’t get this confused with analytical AI, where the technology looks at existing data that can be used for predictions and automation. The content that the generative AI produces can be writing, audio, or imagery, and though it appears to be new, the output is based on already existing data or information.
ChatGPT, like all generative AI, is designed to recognize patterns in the data that the algorithm could find and recognize patterns in order to create a result. In addition, it uses what is known as a feedback loop to constantly update the model as new information is generated. This means that the tool is always working to improve its results based on additional data and usage. ChatGPT is just one form of generative AI, but other examples include DALL•E and Midjourney .
First launched at the end of 2022, ChatGPT is a type of generative AI tool that works to produce natural language. Because the language tool comes in the form of an AI chatbot, users can ask the algorithm to do nearly anything, from answering questions to doing research and even writing code or essays. The tool offers a ripe potential for cheating, as it can reduce the amount of work needed for a project, concerning educators that there will be an increase in academic dishonesty that will hinder student learning.
How to catch cheating
Using ChatGPT, it would be simple for students to submit entire essays or find answers to homework questions. However, generative AI or Open AI is not a reliable source for academic work because it produces results based on patterns and is not strictly truthful, despite the latest version claiming to produce 40% better factual responses.
According to a BestColleges survey , 43% of college students report that they have been using AI tools, and 20% of the students surveyed said that they used information from ChatGPT in assignments that they submitted. However, the same report found that 51% of college students still think that using ChatGPT should be qualified as cheating. There is no consensus on whether generative AI is good or bad, but some teachers are embracing that AI is here to stay by requiring it to be used for certain projects.
However, many educators are still concerned about the potential for cheating and are interested in learning how to catch students using ChatGPT when they aren’t supposed to be. Many teachers are becoming more strict with their requirements for citations in essays or proof of work in other assignments. Some districts, like the New York City Education Department , are even blocking the use of AI on their computers and prohibiting its use for homework.
The creators of ChatGPT were heavily criticized because students were using it to cut corners, and they reacted accordingly by creating AI detectors. At the beginning of 2023, the same team that made ChatGPT created an additional AI technology that can help teachers detect whether or not AI wrote an essay or contributed to homework or the assignment in any way. While still helpful, the creators warn that it’s not 100% accurate.
AI and education
The conversation surrounding how AI intersects with education can be polarizing. Some think that tools like ChatGPT are only detrimental to the learning process, breeding dishonest academic practices and leaving hard work in the dust. On the other hand, there are educators who claim that eliminating the threat of artificial intelligence is nearly impossible, so they try to incorporate it into the current curriculum.
Some teachers even require ChatGPT and include an AI portion in their syllabuses moving forward. France’s digital economy minister Jean-Noël Barrot recently met with the CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman, to discuss the role of AI in education. One of their main points was that it’s important to teach students how to correctly and ethically use these tools, including potential biases that may be present in the technology.
Because of the variety of educational environments that exist in each state, there is no one-size fits all approach to managing AI and cheating with student work. However, creating assignments that ChatGPT may have a hard time doing can help decrease the likelihood of cheating. Let’s look at some examples from EdWeek :
Rely on emotion : Asking students to use personal experiences based on their life requires them to write an essay in a way that a machine never could.
Require proof of work : While proof of work methods are common with math assignments, it is becoming increasingly important for teachers to ask for citations, sources, and other explanations to prove that they did the job themselves.
Oral presentations : When a teacher requires an oral presentation in addition to the written one, it’s much harder to slide by using ChatGPT alone.
Assign more projects : Instead of just assigning the average essay, which is easy to write using AI, incorporating more projects requires hands-on student engagement.
The world is buzzing about AI, and it’s not likely to go away anytime soon. According to Analytics Insight, “generative AI technology will be responsible for the discovery of more than 30% of new drugs and materials” by 2025. Not sure where to start with understanding the increasing impacts of tools like ChatGPT in the classroom? Education market insights could offer some insight that might help you determine a starting point.
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