ChatGPT and artificial intelligence (AI) are both making headlines. Computer programs that generate pictures and fill out spreadsheets are one thing, but education experts are inquiring about both technology’s use in college lecture halls in Alabama.
Questions are being asked about the impact of AI on how professors teach and how students do their homework. Creatives, or those who write the programs, have used the tech to let their imaginations run wild. But what happens when this technology goes too far? Alabama Public Radio spoke with professors at The University of Alabama who gave their thoughts on changes that could be on the way for classrooms across the state.
Dr. Jiaqi Gong is an associate professor of Computer Science UA. He explained artificial intelligence is growing to a level that even humans might not reach.
“It shows some evidence that the performance of AI is a little bit beyond the normal level of human creativity, especially regarding writing, creating content, creating images, creating videos creating so many things,” he explained.
Dr. Gong said this issue might even reach the government. He encouraged the tech companies involved in artificial intelligence to work with lawmakers to find a solution as quickly as possible.
“We need to do something, especially to guide the use of AI in many ways, not only in government, because that's definitely related to some legal issues or legal discussions,” said Gong. “But we can see that the use of AI has been ubiquitous everywhere, right now in classroom, in business, in engineering, art, and science, all these kinds of things coming up. So, I believe this: we need to do something.”
The Washington Post reports Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, went to the U.S. Senate with a similar idea back in May. Altman said during the hearing that he’s open to working with the government to find a solution to any potential problems.
But Amber Buck, an associate professor of English at The University of Alabama, said that hearing doesn’t answer all the questions. “I think for a lot of people, especially other faculty, it's unclear what role to give ChatGPT in the classroom,” she explained. “It's sort of like, is this a performance enhancement? Or is ChatGPT doing the work for them? So, I think its place in the classroom right now is very up in the air.”
Buck is dealing with the rise of artificial intelligence in the classroom first hand. She described the challenges she and fellow faculty members are facing, particularly in the area of plagiarism.
“There are concerns that the work that students might turn in is not their own,” she said. “So, how do you assess students learning if what they're writing, AI wrote instead?”
Educators across Alabama are now deciding what needs to be done with this technology. Amy Dayton is an associate professor of English at The University of Alabama. She said AI isn’t causing the crisis some think it is. She noted the technology isn’t quite as intelligent as the public might think, despite the name.
“The technology just doesn't have that ability, the way the human brain does to move between different levels of specificity, or analyze or explain the connections between things,” explained Dayton. “And so, I think when you're asking students to do those much more difficult cognitive tasks, it's going to be much harder for them to try to get a computer to do that for them.”
Dayton said the conversation around artificial intelligence could lead to a larger discussion on what types of assignments students receive. She said this could change how professors give out work in the future. Dayton said she agrees AI will be a part of the classroom but doesn’t necessarily believe that is a bad thing.
“Faculty are not unlike students, and that sometimes we are tempted to just take shortcuts. So, assigning builder boilerplate assignments, things that ask for general or generic answers, can be quicker and easier to grade,” Dayton admitted. “Whereas devising things that ask students to look more critically, or delve in more into more detail, or just grapple in complex ways with complex ideas, that requires us to devise those assignments, which are more sophisticated, respond in more detail to students’ analysis.”
Dayton said the thinks this can be an effective research tool. “If you ask it pointed questions about, say, like a work of literature, it can very quickly give you different perspective, or summarize what other people have written about that, that book or that poem,” she explained. “And so, I think it can be really helpful as a research tool.”
Professor Buck had similar thoughts to Dayton. She said she sees the technology as more of a tool to help students begin more difficult assignment. She compared AI to using a calculator in a math class, helping students get a start on different tasks.
“I've heard students say that it actually has helped them understand difficult texts, because they can kind of paste in a block of text from something that's very either technical or really theoretical,” Buck said, “and the Chat GPT will then give them that same information back in more plain language.”
Both professors mentioned the positive impacts won’t just stop at the classroom. They agreed that AI’s impact could change even aspects of careers and personal life for users.
“I think it does a nice job it particularly replicating tone needed for things like resumes, which you might think is standard, but the other thing it does a surprisingly good job at is dating profiles,” Buck laughed. “It does a nice job of creating the right tone for someone's online dating profile.”
Dayton echoed Buck’s response. “Outside of the classroom, too, it really has the potential to change how we handle writing in the business world and the professional world as well,” she said. “It makes some tasks a lot easier. And I think if we can learn to use it with students and help them use it critically, it can absolutely be a good tool in the classroom.”
Even with optimism on artificial intelligence’s presence in Alabama schools, not all professors are quite as hopeful. Dr. Jiaqi Gong explained there is no evidence that supports or condemns AI and nobody should be rushing to make any long-term decisions yet. He said universities need more time to fully understand what artificial intelligence can do in a classroom and how that could impact students.
“We might need several years to think about what the actual impact is,” said Dr. Gong. “Because right now there's not so much research coming up or academic solid work coming up to say how the use of these kinds of generative AI will positively or negatively impact a student's learning.”
The next step could come from the White House. PBS News reports President Joe Biden met with artificial intelligence experts in San Francisco to discuss possible regulations for AI in the future.
Reuters reports OpenAI reached over 100 million active users of ChatGPT in January 2023.
