It was released in November 2022 and everyone has been talking about it since: ChatGPT. It is a new chatbot prototype with artificial intelligence that allows you to have human-like conversations. But that is not the only thing, it can also produce entire texts, like essays and scripts; this is where it can get tricky for schools.

Because ChatGPT can create convincing and well-composed answers to questions regarding all sorts of topics, teachers are worried about the future of learning if students use this program. Recently the largest school department in the United States, called New York City Schools, has blocked access to ChatGPT for everyone who studies or works within these schools. More and more universities are concerned about what they must do to stop the possibility of cheating.

What to do with ChatGPT?
According to the New York Times it is necessary to adapt, but they take another approach than most of the schools do. Even though they acknowledge the concerns about ChatGPT, they recommend using the program as a teaching aid. Banning ChatGPT from schools would not work because students still have a lot of options to use it, for example they could use a VPN to avoid the blocking.

Future
Considering that the quality of systems like ChatGPT only will improve, it is important for students to learn how texts on ChatGPT are created. We know that some information the system creates is not factual or logical, so we have to emphasize the importance of critical thinking and encourage students to research the origin of sources themselves.

Furthermore, they think that ChatGPT is an effective teaching tool to help students. For example, you can use it as an after-hours tutor by asking questions about difficult concepts. You also can get inspiration for interesting class exercises. But students must know that this AI system has flaws, and they must know that it is important to try things by yourself, without using digital help. That is why it is necessary to educate students about the pros and cons of this program and to teach them how to use it carefully.

I think this ‘forced’ change in our education system is a good incentive to start thinking about the fundamentals of this system. As the NewScientist puts it: ”Is it instead time to rethink how students are taught and evaluated?”. That is an interesting thought. In my other article I’m going into more detail about the fundamentals of our education system and the possibilities to reconsider this, feel free to take a look.