A Robot Did My Homework: Implications of Artificial Intelligence

Image courtesy of Andrea De Santis on Unsplash

My family, like many others, sends out an annual letter at the end of December — or, more realistically, the beginning of January. The page-long note accompanies a smiley holiday card and summarizes the twelve months prior in sweeping, unspecific terms to a selection of friends and family. This year, we asked artificial intelligence to write the letter for us, using a platform called ChatGPT.

The decision was born, in small part, out of procrastination, and in large part, out of curiosity. What we anticipated when we input the prompt was amusement. What we did not expect was accuracy. 

Though the bot concocted fake names for my sister and I and referred to our parents ominously as “the mother” and “the father,” it managed to capture the warmth and formality characteristic of these types of letters. In a matter of seconds, a robot generated what had previously taken four people with two and a half English degrees a few days to write.  

To be fair, the letter, in all its Hallmark-ian glory, is relatively surface-level to begin with. As a result, the format is fairly easy to replicate. But ChatGPT’s ability to do so with such ease and uncanniness indicates a dramatic development in the world of artificial intelligence (AI). 

ChatGPT is the brainchild of OpenAI, a not-for-profit company founded in 2015. Engaged in research and development of the burgeoning technology, their website touts a mission of “[ensuring] that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity.” Notably, Microsoft is a million-dollar donor to the group.

The GPT of ChatGPT is not the nickname I’d imagined it to be, but something more complicated and less cute. It stands for generative pretrained transformer and classifies ChatGPT’s way of gathering, organizing, and delivering information. ChatGPT sorts through massive amounts of data, looking for relationships and repeated sequences in the material. In fact, identifying patterns is what ChatGPT does best. In reductive terms, the bot is basically playing a game of word association. If you feed it a familiar phrase — for example, a nursery rhyme — it will spit back the line that follows because it has seen those words in succession so many times. 

ChatGPT is always making its best educated guess. The site works a little bit like the iPhone feature that attempts to predict the next word you might type — only ChatGPT can wax eloquent about Marxism, give advice, and churn out screenplays in seconds. 

There are, however, limits to ChatGPT’s abilities. Users have discovered that while the bot struggles with relatively simple math equations, it will deliver its response with an admirable air of confidence. I guess we can’t all be good at everything. 

Aside from the things that ChatGPT is less adept at, there are also things that it outright refuses to do. A result of its programming, ChatGPT has been taught to resist questions that indicate harm or probe for prejudice. Some questions elicit a lengthy refusal, but in many instances, you will receive no response at all — just an error message. These choices, made by human developers, are intended to avoid engaging in discourse that is dangerous, bigoted, or otherwise unfavorable, as determined by its designers. 

Chatbots have existed almost since the advent of the internet, but ChatGPT differs from its predecessors because there are practically no barriers to accessibility — the site is easy to navigate and available for unlimited use, totally free of charge. Its convenience is a double-edged sword, and a dangerous one. Where previous iterations of advanced AI chatbots may have required subscriptions or approval from developers, any curious person with an internet connection can access ChatGPT. Including, and perhaps especially, students. 

Whether it comes easily or as a painstaking process, writing is an unavoidable academic fact. Most universities require some sort of introductory writing course or entry-level English class. Before then, high school seniors become begrudgingly familiar with word counts, citations, and commas through seemingly-unending college applications and supplemental essays. High school writing requirements and standards differ greatly between districts and states, not to mention the tension and disparity that exists between private and public education in the United States. By the time those very same students leave high school and become intermingled in universities across the country, their writing skills are expected to be equivalent and college-ready, regardless of educational background. 

The increasing accessibility of AI could have dramatic effects on education, most of all writing. Certainly, other academic shortcuts exist and have for a while. Sites like SparkNotes, for example, enable students to avoid reading assignments and spoon-feed them literary analysis. But writing has felt like a hold-out — the final academic frontier, the last standard left standing. It is, or at least has been, skill-based and teachable. At its worst, AI systems like ChatGPT render writing a totally obsolete measurement of academic ability. 

As a tutor in Skidmore’s Writing Center, I encounter a great variety of student work. I have read essays, outlines, reports, and personal reflections about every imaginable subject. The grand scope of work has similarly made me a witness for a great gamut of writing skills. The writing that ChatGPT produces is, by a large margin, more succinct and straightforward than that which the average student produces on their own.

It is worth wondering, however, if sparse prose and scholastic language is always superior. I am the  oft-recipient of feedback that finds my word choice too flowery or my essays too ambling. When met with these critiques, I find myself stubbornly defensive of my authorial voice. Writing, whether for academic purposes or otherwise, is an incredible tool for communicating and disseminating information. I believe that educators are right to fret over the toll AI might take on students’ ability and inclination to write, but it is equally important to examine existing academic standards, why they are held in high esteem, and what can be done to equalize education before students reach university. 

For all the fear it incites about job opportunities, interpersonal relationships, and the world as we know it, artificial intelligence, admittedly, has its advantages. ChatGPT is efficient, emotionally intelligent, adaptable, and — for now — immune to plagiarism-detecting technology. In fact, I asked ChatGPT to write its own version of this article. You can find it below. 

Prompt: write a 500-word article for a college newspaper that describes what artificial intelligence and ChatGPT is, how students might use or abuse AI, implications of AI upon education and teachers, and the importance of writing skills. 

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a rapidly developing field that is transforming numerous industries and fields, including education. AI is the ability of machines to mimic human intelligence and perform tasks that would normally require human cognition, such as learning, problem solving, and decision making. ChatGPT is one example of an AI application that has gained widespread attention in recent years.

ChatGPT is a chatbot that uses natural language processing (NLP) to communicate with users in a way that is similar to how a human would communicate. It can engage in conversations with users, answering questions and providing information on a wide range of topics. ChatGPT and other AI chatbots are becoming increasingly common in education, as they can be used to provide personalized assistance to students and facilitate communication between students and teachers. 

There are many ways in which students can use AI to enhance their education. For example, students can use AI-powered language translation tools to better understand foreign language materials. They can also use AI-powered tutoring systems to receive personalized instruction and feedback on their work. 

However, there are also potential abuses of AI in education. Some students may be tempted to use AI-powered essay writing services or cheat on exams using AI-powered tools. This can undermine the integrity of the educational process and create an unfair advantage for those who use these tools. It is important for students to understand the ethical implications of using AI in their studies and to use it responsibly. 

The growing prevalence of AI in education is also having an impact on teachers. Some educators are concerned about the potential for AI to replace human teachers, leading to job loss and a decrease in the value of teaching as a profession. However, others see the potential for AI to augment the work of teachers and enhance the learning experience for students. 

Regardless of how AI is used in education, it is important for students to develop strong writing skills. In the age of AI, the ability to communicate clearly and effectively through writing is more important than ever. It is not enough to simply be able to produce content; students must also be able to critically evaluate and analyze the information they encounter and present their ideas in a clear and concise manner. 

In conclusion, AI is a rapidly developing field with numerous potential applications in education. While it has the potential to enhance the learning experience for students and augment the work of teachers, it is important for students to use it responsibly and to continue to develop strong writing skills. The increasing prevalence of AI in education highlights the importance of clear and effective communication in the modern world.

Sources and Further Reading