chatGPT in School – Is it Cheating?

I had a chat with chatGPT about chatGPT in school. I asked about the pros and cons, and then entered a bit of a debate about whether its use would be cheating or plagiarism. All normal text after this section is directly from chatGPT. Headings are my prompts. Suffice it to say that we found that we have some disagreements…

List the pros and cons of allowing schoolchildren access to AI such as chatGPT with respect to their learning.

There are both potential benefits and drawbacks to allowing schoolchildren access to AI such as chatGPT for learning. Some potential pros include:

1. Personalized learning: AI systems like chatGPT can offer personalized learning experiences by adapting to the individual needs and abilities of each student.
2. Efficiency: AI systems can help students learn more efficiently by providing them with immediate feedback and guidance, which can save time for both teachers and students.
3. Engagement: Some students may find interacting with AI systems to be more engaging and enjoyable than traditional forms of learning, which could increase their motivation and focus.

However, there are also some potential drawbacks to consider:

1. Limited scope: While AI systems like chatGPT can provide personalized learning experiences, they may not be able to cover the full range of topics and skills that students need to learn.
2. Dependence: If students become too reliant on AI systems for learning, they may struggle to develop important critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
3. Bias: AI systems can sometimes perpetuate biases that are present in the data used to train them, which could lead to unfair or inaccurate learning experiences for some students.
4. Privacy concerns: Allowing school children access to AI systems for learning may raise concerns about the privacy of their personal data.

I notice you didn’t mention cheating or plagiarism, why is that?

I apologize for the oversight. Allowing school children access to AI systems like chatGPT could potentially make it easier for them to cheat or plagiarize by generating answers or content that they could pass off as their own. This is a serious concern and something that educators would need to consider when deciding whether or not to allow students access to these types of tools.

Why is that a serious concern? Wouldn’t the act of using the AI and seeing its response be a valuable act of learning in itself?

While interacting with AI systems like chatGPT can certainly be a valuable learning experience in itself, the act of cheating or plagiarizing undermines the integrity of the educational process and undermines the goals of education. Cheating and plagiarism deprive students of the opportunity to develop important skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity, and they also undermine the trust that is necessary for the educational system to function effectively. In order to foster a positive and productive learning environment, it is important to ensure that all students are held to the same standards and that they are all given the opportunity to develop their skills and knowledge through their own hard work and effort.

How is the use of chatGPT any different than using a calculator?

Using a calculator to perform mathematical calculations can be a valuable tool for helping students to understand and solve math problems, but it is generally not considered cheating because it does not generate answers or solutions that the student can pass off as their own. In contrast, chatGPT is a language generation AI system that is capable of generating responses to prompts in the form of written text. While chatGPT can be a useful tool for learning and generating ideas, it could potentially be misused by students to cheat or plagiarize by generating responses or content that they present as their own.

Au contraire. A calculator does exactly that. It enables a child to achieve a mathematical answer that they may not have been able to achieve on their own.

I apologize if my previous response was unclear. You are correct that a calculator can provide answers to math problems that a student may not have been able to solve on their own. However, the use of a calculator is generally not considered cheating because it is not intended to be used as a means of generating answers or solutions that a student can pass off as their own. Instead, it is intended to be used as a tool to help students understand and solve math problems more effectively. In contrast, chatGPT is a language generation AI system that is capable of generating responses to prompts in the form of written text, which could potentially be misused by students to cheat or plagiarize by generating responses or content that they present as their own.

I disagree. The calculator does generate answers that the child passes off as their own. We accept this, because our intention is to teach at a higher level of abstraction, and the use of the calculator makes the process more efficient. In the same way, chatGPT could be used as a tool to quickly generate text which the child then must evaluate, organize and present. This abstracts the act of writing so that we can focus on the critical thinking.

I understand your perspective and agree that a calculator can be a useful tool for helping students to understand and solve math problems more efficiently. Similarly, chatGPT and other AI systems could potentially be used as tools to help students generate ideas and text more efficiently, allowing them to focus on higher level skills such as critical thinking and analysis. However, it is important to ensure that students are not using these tools to cheat or plagiarize by passing off generated content as their own work. In order to foster a positive and productive learning environment, it is important to set clear expectations for the use of these tools and to hold students accountable for their own work.

How is it cheating to use chatGPT, which the student has (possibly painstakingly) prompted to generate the output they desire. Moreover, isn’t chatGPT specifically programmed to avoid plagiarism?

Using chatGPT or other AI systems to generate responses or content that a student presents as their own work could be considered cheating because it undermines the integrity of the educational process and deprives the student of the opportunity to develop important skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity. While chatGPT and other AI systems may be programmed to avoid plagiarism by generating original responses, they are not intended to be used as a means of generating content that a student can pass off as their own. It is important for students to be held accountable for their own work and to be given the opportunity to develop their skills and knowledge through their own hard work and effort.

Once again, I disagree. You are recycling arguments that have been used and discarded many times in history. For example, these tired arguments have been used against the abacus, calculator, spreadsheet, typewriter, word processor, spell checkers, grammar checkers, and now AI language models.

I apologize if my previous responses seemed repetitive or failed to address your concerns. It is not my intention to recycle arguments that have been used and discarded in the past, but rather to provide a balanced perspective on the potential benefits and drawbacks of allowing school children access to AI systems like chatGPT for learning. While these tools can certainly be useful for helping students to generate ideas and text more efficiently, it is important to ensure that they are used in a way that promotes fairness, integrity, and the development of important skills. The use of any tool, including AI systems, should be carefully considered in the context of the educational goals and objectives, and the needs and abilities of the individual students.

That I can agree with. The current trend, following your earlier arguments, is for school systems to ban the use of chatGPT and similar AI. This is an extreme disservice to children who could otherwise benefit from learning to use the best tools available.

It is important for educators to carefully consider the potential benefits and drawbacks of allowing students access to new technologies, including AI systems like chatGPT, in the context of their educational goals and objectives. While AI systems can certainly offer some potential benefits for learning, it is important to ensure that they are used in a way that promotes fairness, integrity, and the development of important skills. If educators decide to allow students access to these tools, it may be helpful to establish clear guidelines for their use and to provide appropriate training and support to ensure that students are able to use them effectively and responsibly. Ultimately, the decision about whether or not to allow students access to AI systems for learning should be based on a careful evaluation of the potential benefits and drawbacks in the specific context of the individual school or classroom.