ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence chatbot that generates human-like writing including essays, has been prohibited in New York City schools due to concerns that pupils could use it to cheat.
The tool will be prohibited across all devices and networks in New York City public schools, according to the city’s education department. Jenna Lyle, a department representative, said the decision arises from “issues about negative consequences on student learning, and concerns surrounding the safety and veracity of information”.
In-depth details about ChatGPT has been banned in New York City public schools because it allows students to cheat when completing essays
OpenAI, an independent artificial intelligence research foundation co-founded by Elon Musk in 2015, invented ChatGPT. OpenAI’s chatbot, which was released in November, is capable of producing startlingly human-like responses to a wide range of inquiries and writing prompts. ChatGPT interacts with users in a dialogue manner after being trained on a huge sample of text from the internet.
The discussion style enables ChatGPT to “answer follow-up queries, admit mistakes, dispute faulty premises, and reject unsuitable requests,” according to OpenAI. Users can ask for rephrasings, summaries, and extensions on the texts it generates.
The decision to prohibit the chatbot in New York City schools stems from widespread concern that it may encourage children to plagiarise.
“While the tool may provide quick and easy answers to problems, it does not develop critical-thinking and problem-solving abilities, which are necessary for academic and lifelong success,” Lyle explained.
Individual schools can still seek access to ChatPGT for “AI and technology-related instructional goals,” she added.
Since the announcement in New York, OpenAI has attempted to reassure instructors. “We don’t want ChatGPT to be used for misleading reasons in schools or anyplace else, therefore we’re already designing mitigations to assist anyone detect text created by that system,” the business told the Washington Post.
“We look forward to engaging with educators on practical solutions and other ways to assist teachers and kids benefit from artificial intelligence,” the company said.
ChatGPT is “very limited, yet good enough at some things to provide a deceptive image of excellence,” according to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
“It would be a mistake to rely on it for anything essential right now. “It’s a preview of improvement; we still have a lot of work to do on robustness and honesty,” he said, adding, “Fun, creative inspiration; terrific!” Relying on factual enquiries is not a good idea.”
So far, educators have been divided over the chatbot.
“The robots are here, and they’re going to do our pupils’ schoolwork,” TikTok user Dan Lewer said.
Teachers, according to Lewer, should require students who submit their essays at home to additionally provide a “short and sweet” video answer in which they “restate their point… I would have them review some of their best evidence, arguments, and reasoning, and then I would have them reflect… What did they take away from the essay… what did they struggle with, and where do they believe they grew?
“This will help students build stronger communication skills while also ensuring they are truly absorbing the content,” Lewer explained.
