Need Not Worry About Cheating with ChatGPT – Find Out Why.

 Are you concerned about ChatGPT and cheating? Here are four things instruct.

Mark Schneider, a former university professor, observed as his students' research sources shifted from the library to Wikipedia to Google. Cheating and plagiarism got easier with increased access to online information. So Schneider, who taught at Stony Brook University for 30 years, wrote essay topics in ways that he believed would discourage copy-paste replies. Even back then, he got a student essay with a bill from a paper-writing service pasted to the back.

Instructors certainly spend more time than they would like attempting to stop kids who can cheat in novel ways. Several instructors are concerned that ChatGPT, a new and freely available artificial intelligence (AI) model developed by OpenAI, provides another another avenue for students to avoid tasks. ChatGPT produces impressively human-like writing by combining machine learning and massive language modeling. ChatGPT has been a popular option for students to write essays and research papers since users may provide prompts or queries and receive paragraphs of writing.

Several schools have already prohibited kids from using ChatGPT. Simultaneously, some instructors are investigating how to use the technology for learning. Schneider, who is now the head of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), an independent research branch of the U.S. Department of Education, compares artificial intelligence to the creation of the calculator to assist educators comprehend how it may fit into a classroom environment. "For years, there was debate regarding whether or not students should use calculators when taking arithmetic tests," he explained. "And this occurs all the time: new technology arrives [and] it's overwhelming."

Eventually educators decided to permit calculators and make test questions more complex instead of constantly having to monitor students’ behavior. Similarly, with ChatGPT, Schneider urges educators to ask themselves, “What do you need to do with this incredibly powerful tool so that it is used in the furtherance of education rather than as a cheat sheet?” In a conversation with MindShift, he addressed teachers’ ChatGPT worries and offered insights on how to ensure students continue to have meaningful learning experiences.

Cheating using ChatGPT is not foolproof.

ChatGPT produces essays that are grammatically correct and free of spelling errors in a matter of seconds; however, its information isn’t always factual. ChatGPT provides answers that draw from webpages that may be biased, outdated or incorrect. Schneider described ChatGPT’s output as “semi reliable.” It has been shown to produce plausible references that are inaccurate and supply convincing answers that are not rooted in science. 

 

"So when people are lazy and say, 'Hey, create this thing for me,' and then accept it and use it, there may be problems," Schneider explained. This makes it a wonderful tool for brainstorming and drafting preliminary drafts, but a dangerous alternative for final tasks. Students who want to utilize ChatGPT will very certainly need to double-check the information it gives, either by knowing the material in the first place or by checking with other reliable sources.

ChatGPT can assist instructors rather than replace them.

Some educators are concerned that broad use of AI may result in employment losses, particularly in fields such as tutoring and language education. Schneider believes that is improbable. "I can't envision a school system without teachers," he remarked. Many studies have found a link between great student-teacher relationships and enhanced student participation, attendance, and academic success.

As people explore how AI will support teaching and learning, teachers' roles may change as these tech tools become more widely used. “Teachers are going to have to evolve and figure out how to harness the power of this tool to improve instruction,” said Schneider. For example, the AI Institute for Transforming Education for Children with Speech and Language Processing Challenges, which was awarded $20 million in funding from IES and the National Science Foundation, is exploring how ChatGPT can support speech pathologists. According to a recent survey by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, the median number of students served by one speech pathologist is 48. “There are simply not enough pathologists in schools,” said Schneider. ChatGPT has the potential to help speech pathologists complete paperwork, which takes up almost six hours each week, and build personalized treatment plans for students with cognitive disabilities, such as dyslexia.

"We need to reconsider what we can do to free up teachers to perform the work that they are really excellent at, as well as how to assist them in individualizing their interventions and providing teaching and support," Schneider said.

Your data is not safe when using ChatGPT.

ChatGPT is believable because it uses a vast quantity of data to identify patterns and create text that appears to be authored by a person. It can even emulate the writing style and tone of the user. "The more information they have, the better the model," Schneider said of ChatGPT's answer generation capability. "There's also a lot of data moving around."

The information that users put into ChatGPT to make it generate a response – also known as the input – can take the form of a question, a statement or even a partial text that the user wants ChatGPT to complete. But when students use ChatGPT they may be putting their data at risk.

According to Open AI’s privacy policy, inputs – including ones with personal information, such as names, addresses, phone numbers or other sensitive content – may be reviewed and shared with third parties. Also, there is the ever present risk that if ChatGPT is hacked, a bad actor can access users’ data.

Schneider acknowledged that if ChatGPT will be used to support teaching and learning, privacy is a major concern. “We are developing much better methods for preserving privacy than we have in the past,” he said. “We have to remember it's a bit of a cost analysis. Using all this data has many benefits. It also has some risks. We have to balance those.” He added that ChatGPT is similar to wearing an Apple Watch or talking to an Amazon Alexa, because those tools also rely on data from users.  

The prohibition of ChatGPT is not a long-term solution.

Because students may provide original questions into ChatGPT and receive unique responses, the question arises: Is utilizing ChatGPT plagiarism? And how much must AI-generated writing be modified before it is deemed a student's own work? In place of answering these concerns, several schools, including those in Los Angeles, New York City, and Seattle, have explicitly prohibited the usage of ChatGPT.

Schneider concedes that it makes sense for schools and teachers to hold ChatGPT at bay for the rest of the school year so they can take the summer to figure out how to use it next year. For example, ChatGPT can be used to help students outline essays before they write a rough draft longhand. Other teachers have used ChatGPT to suggest classroom activities or generate test questions. Trying to ban it completely won’t work and it’s an innovation in education that teachers will eventually have to face, Schneider said. “Just like they had to face calculators and computers and laptops and iPhones.”