ChatGPT For Academic Uses? Maybe.

Note from the author: The following article wasn’t created and doesn’t include parts generated by artificial intelligence. It is an original piece of work by Chief Editor Tigger.

Artificial intelligence. Since the release of ChatGPT, an AI chatbot developed by the American artificial intelligence research laboratory OpenAI, AI has taken the world by storm. These engines can generate human-like responses to the user’s prompt and are quite a fun tool to experiment with. However, experts from the academic world have other ideas.

Recently, on March 13th, OpenAI released its latest version, the fourth version of ChatGPT, GPT-4, which is more intelligent than ever. Not long after the release of GPT-4, Google announced its competitor, Google Bard, on March 21st. It’s just an indicator of how popular AI has become in the past half year, and it will only continue to improve. The use of AI technology, in very distinctive ways, has become a competitive market between tech giants for users. The truth about these chatbots is that they can do much more than just ‘chat.’ Engines like ChatGPT can offer responses to questions like what to make with the following ingredients or product reviews.

How do they do this? These AI bots use deep-learning algorithms, which means running data through multiple layers of neural network algorithms, with every layer learning more about the data. That proves particularly helpful for engines like ChatGPT because they use whole parts of the internet as a reference and then pick practical information to generate an answer. That means that ChatGPT could potentially write essays and stories and be a beneficial tool to the everyday user, able to learn more and do more as it evolves. One can use it to generate articles in all styles to fit their needs, get information as organized bullet points, etc. ChatGPT has also been proven (almost) capable of passing the United States Medical Licensing Exam, scoring at or around the passing threshold, and being intelligent enough to pass law exams. However, I should note that the engine didn’t have very high grades.

But even so, these engines are already quite powerful and do some tasks better than humans. It’s also why universities, citing concern, have banned ChatGPT and similar AI engines on campus. Some of these include the United Kingdom’s Oxford and Cambridge universities, which banned it over fears of plagiarism, and they aren’t the only ones. These universities have announced that using the AI engine(s) to accomplish assignments would count as academic misconduct and could lead to expulsion in consequential cases or repeated instances of such actions. That may seem overreacted, but these universities also have a point. Such use of AI engines can discourage learning, form immoral habits of theft and have negative consequences caused by plagiaristic actions.

However, the International Baccalaureate (IB) embraced the emergence of new AI technology, announcing that it would allow students to quote ChatGPT responses in essays. The IB is a nonprofit founded in 1968 and headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. It offers four educational programmes taught at IB-authorized schools and provides an alternative qualification to A-levels. Dr Matthew Glanville, Head of Assessment Principles and Practice at the IB, wrote in the news sector of the organization’s official website that AI development breakthroughs are like calculators and that people need to accept that it will become a part of our everyday lives. Dr Glanville added that because so, the IB must transform education so students can use AI tools ethically and effectively. It’s a convincing argument. And indeed, many people weren’t eager to adapt to new technology when it debuted. But nowadays, we take things like smartphones and the internet for granted. So should we embrace AI after all?

That’s a difficult question to answer, and it’s not just the academic world debating over it; There’s also a disagreement among some of the world’s wealthiest people, like Bill Gates and Elon Musk. Each is the founder of influential and large companies, and both have very different views on AI. Elon Musk believes that artificial intelligence could have extreme consequences on humanity and society, and joined Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and hundreds in calling for a half-year pause on AI experiments in an open letter. On the other hand, Bill Gates hasn’t pushed for a limit on the development of AI or a ‘ban.’ The billionaire expressed that he was both excited and terrified by the new AI breakthroughs, saying that “the development of AI is as fundamental as the creation of the microprocessor, the personal computer, the Internet, and the mobile phone.”

So to summarize, there are two general stances regarding AI in the academic world: One wants to ban it from schools, and the other embraces the technology into the curriculum. They both have good reasons, and that’s also the case between the different ideals of Elon Musk and Bill Gates. So who do you support? Pro-AI development or those who want to constraint it? That’s the end of this production from the New News Newsminute. Tomorrow, I’ll publish another follow-up article regarding plagiarism of artificial intelligence generated-content and the legal complications that come with it. If you want to check out that one, remember to come back tomorrow, go to the home page of my official account, and click on the drop-down section that comes with tomorrow’s annual New News anniversary summary. Thank you for reading.