Squibs
You could say the writing’s on the wall–or at least on the screen–for the arrival of artificial intelligence that could change the way we think about learning.
Artificial Intelligence or “AI” refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are designed to think and act like humans. This is according to ChatGPT, a chatbot that has been created to respond to questions and commands such as “What is Shakespeare’s greatest play?” and “What TV shows of the 1960s influenced scientific advances?” It also can write a sermon, analyze a scripture passage, compose a letter, pen a sonnet, even provide directions on writing an essay. The platform upon which ChatGPT is built is a massive database of words and phrases, and the “chatbot” has the operational ability to immediately stitch together a related answer or summation to respond to virtually any request, from Ferris Bueller to Shakespeare to science fiction. All of this in minutes–even seconds in some cases.
Open AI, the creator of ChatGPT, went live with the software last November. Right now, anyone can sign up for free and be part of its pilot program, providing feedback on how it works and suggestions for improvement.
The program has been banned in many school districts around the country as administrators and teachers investigate the implications of AI in the learning process. There are concerns about plagiarism, cheating, and other issues that could result if students are allowed to use the platform.
I’m teaching a freshman writing class this semester at Siena and ChatGPT piqued my interest, as well as that of my students. We have had some discussions about the ethics of using AI to write their essays (unethical), about whether I’d be able to recognize if they did (likely) and whether it would be considered plagiarism (only if they didn’t cite ChatGPT as a source). These are all important questions to debate since this technology probably is here to stay.
While far from perfect, there are many educational benefits contained within it, it seems. NPR interviewed Dr. Ethan Mollick, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business who is using it in class, exploring its many applications to entrepreneurship and innovation, and generating project ideas. According to NPR, Mollick “readily admits he alternates between enthusiasm and anxiety about how artificial intelligence can change assessments in the classroom, but he believes educators need to move with the times. ‘We taught people how to do math in a world with calculators,’ he said. Now the challenge is for educators to teach students how the world has changed again, and how they can adapt to that.” Forbes.com reported that some educators consider ChatGPT a good tool for students with lower reading levels or who do not speak English as their first language. The software also can help teachers create lesson plans, some say.
If ChatGPT or any of the other AI programs designed to write essays, letters, and research papers are a barometer, we’re probably not too far away from a world dominated by machines–just as so many of those sci-fi writers envisioned 60 or 70 years ago. As Jim Lincoln pointed out, “Stephen Hawking, one of Britain’s pre-eminent scientists, said that efforts to create thinking machines pose a threat to our very existence.”
“He told the BBC, ‘The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race,” Jim told me this week.
I studied the responses ChatGPT gave to several of my essay inquiries and concluded that while the answers were correct and the arguments had supporting evidence, they still sounded rather stiff and even inhuman. The final paragraph of every essay and letter began with, “In conclusion” and the information was fairly general in nature and tone. More importantly, the essays lacked a voice. To my way of thinking and of teaching, voice–the personality of the writer–is a key component in writing. It is essential.
Of course, it’s only a matter of time before those kinds of nuances become part of the program and ChatGPT evolves into something even more human.
SQUIBS 