There is no point banning ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence chatbot capable of writing convincing essays, a Cambridge University pro-vice-chancellor has warned.
The AI chatbot can write convincing essays and scientific articles and can pass doctors’ exams. ChatGPT was created by OpenAI in Silicon Valley. It is free and was released shortly before Christmas. Students are already being accused of using it to complete assignments, and some universities are said to have already tried to ban the technology.
Cambridge University’s pro-vice-chancellor for education, Professor Bhaskar Vira, said that bans on the AI software are not “sensible”. Speaking to the university’s student newspaper, Varsity, he said: “We have to recognise that this is a new tool that is available. I’m of the opinion that we have to recognise that [AI] is a tool people will use but then adapt our learning, teaching and examination processes so that we can continue to have integrity while recognising the use of the tool.”
Cambridge is in the process of reviewing its guidelines on AI platforms for departments and students. “We recognise that ChatGPT is a new tool being used across the world. The university has strict guidelines on student conduct and academic ¬integrity. These stress the importance of a student being the author of their own work. Content produced by AI platforms, such as ChatGPT, does not represent the student’s own original work so would be considered a form of academic misconduct,” a Cambridge University spokesman said.
Emeritus professor of educational technology in the Institute of Educational Technology at The Open University, Mike Sharples, previously told a broadsheet newspaper that some British universities are already banning the use of ChatGPT, stating: “It’s going to be very hard to detect whether students are using it, particularly if they write a first draft using it and then rewrite it or check it.”
Schools have also been reviewing changes to homework activities to stop children from cheating. The head of an independent school in London, Alleyn’s, has said ChatGPT threatens to make the more traditional after-school essays obsolete. School leaders have said that teachers will consider whether to carry out more “flipped learning”, where pupils do research outside the classroom and write more essays in class.