By Gabriel Ruiz
While I may not be what you’d call a certified ‘tech bro’, I do find the rise of A.I. and its ever-advancing development to be fascinating. And if you’ve taken any class on campus where you’re required to write 500 words or more, you’ve probably at least heard someone named the artificial intelligence language model “ChatGPT”
OpenAI (The company behind ChatGPT) released an article detailing a report that found “one-third of college-aged young adults in the US use ChatGPT, and approximately a quarter of the messages they send are related to learning and school work — from starting papers and projects to exploring topics and brainstorming creative ideas”
The article also serves as an open invitation for institutions to collaborate with OpenAI and provide input. “We welcome insights from states, universities, colleges, and schools to understand better how we can advance research and drive progress in this space. If you’d like to share your feedback, or if you’re a state or university official interested in exploring our data further or receiving more detailed data on your state, click here“
College students and ChatGPT adoption in the US | OpenAI
A survey conducted by bestcolleges.com found 54% of students who participated say using AI on schoolwork or exams counts as cheating or plagiarism, while around 21% disagreed. One-quarter of students were neutral on the subject.
“In our March survey, a much smaller percentage of students (22%)
Over 58% of students said that their school or program has a policy about using generative AI tools to complete assignments or exams. This makes sense given how pervasive AI has been and continues to become in the ever-expanding digital era.
However, more than one-quarter of students in the survey say some of their professors communicate a policy, and some do not. This may suggest the need for broader discussion and clarity on how AI should be used in academic settings.
56% of College Students Have Used AI on Assignments or Exams
The question isn’t whether using A.I. language models is cheating or not. The question is at what point does the use of A.I. language become cheating? I found an interesting pair of articles online. One is an opinion piece written by an undergraduate at Columbia University. And the other is a rebuttal to that opinion piece. The opinion piece asserts that the use of ChatGPT by students looks far different than most professors think it does. “The common fear among teachers is that A.I. is writing our essays for us, but that isn’t what happens.” He goes on to explain; “The more effective, and increasingly popular, strategy is to have the A.I. walk you through the writing process step by step,” The opposing article asks “Should a student receive a grade, or credit, or a degree based on recycling arguments made by machines? I certainly think not. I mean, if you’re not doing your own thinking, why are you in college? I’ll go further, if you actually need a machine to find and defend a central theme in a piece of writing, maybe you should not be in college.” You can view both arguments in their entirety for yourself through the links below. There are strong opinions on both sides but both come to the same conclusion: If students can use A.I. to fake their thinking, colleges are going to have to consider structural change as to how thinking is taught. And I agree. The fact of the matter is there is a massive question hovering over academic institutions regarding how to handle the sudden and rapid appearance of AI language models aren’t going anywhere for the foreseeable future and these models will only become more accessible and advanced. Getting ahead of the curve (or rather catching up to it) by investing learning and resources into A.I. will only prove to be beneficial.
https://www.chronicle.com/article/im-a-student-you-have-no-idea-how-much-were-using-chatgpthttps://thecheatsheet.substack.com/p/student-you-have-no-idea-how-much