Artificial Intelligence vs Education: University Students take on ChatGPT

In November, OpenAI released its new chatbot, ChatGPT, to anyone with access to the internet. ChatGPT can do a number of things like answer questions, write emails and essays and lines of poetry, and even have “human-like” conversations. Since its release, the world has been abuzz with questions of how ChatGPT and similar AI technology will affect everything from hobbies to jobs to education. 

There have been fears that ChatGPT will lead to plagiarism and cheating in an educational setting. Some school districts and teachers have been scrambling to catch and solve the problem before it even begins. This has led to some schools going as far as banning ChatGPT on school networks and devices. 

But putting a ban on ChatGPT can only do so much to protect teachers’ lesson plans. Students have their own personal devices and WiFi networks at home. Many argue that banning ChatGPT and trying to push it away isn’t going to work the way many educators wish it would. Along with this, all of ChatGPT’s features are prompt-based and ChatGPT’s database is more limited than many believe. Also there are ways to mitigate this kind of concern, with watermarks or AI detection software. Nonetheless, there is no way to avoid the conversation about ethics regarding AI tools. 

People are curious. Will ChatGPT take our jobs? Is ChatGPT a passing trend or should we be wary of it for the future? Will ChatGPT provide an advantage for skill growth in the classroom or just stunt students’ learning? 

It’s not a shock that since the spring semester began, many university classrooms have engaged in some sort of discussion about ChatGPT and AI tools. We asked a few undergraduate students about those conversations and what they think about ChatGPT. 

Have you talked about ChatGPT in class recently? How have those conversations gone? 

J: A little. My professor recently asked us not to use it on an assignment, jokingly. 

C: We talk about it every single day in one of my communications classes. My professor is really interested in it and is interested in our opinions too. I’ve also played with it a few times.

S: Yes. Most of my professors just joke about it. Most of them have used AI tools and can spot if their students use it. This is helpful because students are totally already using ChatGPT for their classes. 

What are your general thoughts on ChatGPT and AI tools? 

J: I don’t know too much about it, but I think the concept is interesting. I don’t think it should be used for anything other than playing around with it, though. 

C: I think it’s cool. I don’t know how often I’ll use them myself, but it’s a little amazing just how much ChatGPT can do. 

S: AI tools are fun to play with, but they are too flawed right now to be used at the capacity that people want. People are afraid of them because you don’t need to know as much to be able to make the thing. But I also think that people naturally want to be smart. So I don’t think AI tools will completely diminish all of the intelligence in the world. 

Do you think tools like ChatGPT will be used in classrooms? Do you think they should be banned? 

J: ChatGPT could be useful to generate ideas for something, but I don’t think it should be relied on for full-length writing assignments. If you use ChatGPT to write your entire paper, then that could be problematic. I just hope students aren’t stupid enough to use it for the wrong reasons. For what it’s worth, I think it’s really obvious when something is written by AI. 

C: I’m not a luddite; I don’t think they should be banned. I think that educators will need to be on the lookout for AI-generated work and that they should teach students about it, rather than ignoring it. I don’t think it will change education that much… yet. 

S: It shouldn’t be banned. Some educators are so afraid of these tools, but if they become familiar with the AI, they’ll be able to spot when students are using them. I feel like AI can be used as a learning tool to make people smarter quicker. 

Do you think ChatGPT will change certain job industries? Will you use it for your job in the future? 

J: I will probably use AI in my job in the future, but not ChatGPT specifically. I hope people will be smart enough to use it as a tool and not become dependent on it. 

C: I write a lot for my job and I’ve already used ChatGPT to develop ideas, among other things. I think professionals know not to rely on something like ChatGPT. Professionals don’t need to rely on AI like this. 

S: I think it will change writing industries. I’m going into the film industry and writing is an important part of that. I wouldn’t be surprised if in the future, it becomes more normal for people to use AI to write scripts or create films. But there’s less character in that. AI isn’t human. It’s kind of like the difference between someone sending you an email and handwriting a letter, you know what I mean? 

Do you think this is a passing trend or should tools like ChatGPT make us wary of the future?

J: I don’t think we need to be wary but artificial intelligence in general will not be going away. So even if ChatGPT goes away, there will always be something else. Educators need to understand that. 

C: It’s not a passing trend, but people don’t need to freak out. I’m optimistic about the future. I don’t think it will take my job or ruin the education system. Maybe I’m wrong about that but right now I’m just impressed we have this tool at our disposal. 

S: Right now, it just feels like a game. When it gets to the point that AI becomes incredibly good at replicating things and begins to hurt industries, that’s when we should get nervous. But humans are always going to innovate towards efficiency and AI will make their lives easier. It can do so many things.