Renowned British philosopher Bertrand Russell once stated in 1945, “Man is born ignorant, not stupid; it is education that makes him stupid.” Since then, the education systems in many advanced countries have evolved significantly, incorporating project-based learning, which engages students in interviews, surveys, studies, and research collaboratively.
Educational Systems at a Crossroads
However, the advent of ChatGPT at the end of last year sparked debates about the relevance of traditional education methods. Elon Musk warned that such technology could render homework obsolete, declaring on the X platform (formerly Twitter), “It’s a new world… Goodbye, homework!”
This concern extends beyond just warnings. Some thinkers fear that ChatGPT could become a tool to avoid learning, thereby spreading ignorance among students. Linguist and thinker Noam Chomsky calls it “high-tech plagiarism” and a way to evade learning. He asserts that students’ instinctual use of advanced technology to avoid learning signifies the failure of the educational system to engage and challenge them.
Canadian novelist Stephen Markey echoes similar sentiments, emphasizing the traditional role of essay writing in education, now threatened by AI technology.
In response, many schools and educational institutions worldwide have banned the use of ChatGPT, adding it to their lists of restricted internet sites.
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While concerns exist, the potential benefits of AI in education cannot be ignored. AI can provide customized education tailored to individual student needs, a notable advantage in modern learning environments.
Technology and Education: Revolution or Setback?
The New York City public school system, initially adopting a ban on ChatGPT, reversed its stance in May, allowing teachers to use the tool judiciously. To mitigate cheating risks, OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, launched the AI Text Classifier. This tool was designed to identify AI-generated texts but was eventually discontinued due to its low accuracy.
Despite this, many thinkers and entrepreneurs see generative AI technologies like ChatGPT as playing a transformative and positive role in various fields, including education. Microsoft founder Bill Gates believes that AI-powered robots are more efficient than human teachers in teaching reading and writing. They can accomplish this in just 18 months, compared to years, and at a lower cost, especially for individualized education.
OpenAI, to encourage teachers to use ChatGPT in education, released a blog in August titled “Teaching with Artificial Intelligence,” providing examples for classroom use, explaining its functionality and limitations, and discussing anti-cheating software.
Artificial Intelligence: Unmistakable Benefits
Enthusiasts of generative AI in education, like ChatGPT, summarize its advantages in seven key points:
- Providing tailored education based on individual student needs.
- Offering private lessons and homework assistance.
- Facilitating language learning through conversations, explanations, and translations in multiple languages.
- Assisting students and researchers in quickly finding information, summarizing articles, creating citations, and efficiently conducting studies and research.
- Helping students improve their writing skills with grammatical and stylistic suggestions, idea generation, and essay/report writing.
- Assisting teachers with administrative tasks, class schedules, and responding to common student inquiries.
- Enabling teachers to develop educational materials, create interactive lessons, and design tests and assignments.
To illustrate the last point, I requested ChatGPT to generate math questions suitable for sixth graders, and it provided several appropriate questions.
Concluding Thoughts
Today, there are many exaggerations about the capabilities of generative AI like ChatGPT. Some compare this hype to the overestimation of the Information Processing Language (IPL) in 1956 or the initial excitement over the primitive therapy chatbot “Eliza” in 1966. This tendency to overestimate AI capabilities is known as the “Eliza Effect.” Are we witnessing a repetition of history?
While opinions vary, exaggerating or underestimating AI’s capabilities, or the risks of its use, one thing is clear: its significant impact on education systems. Schools can no longer operate as they did in the past, necessitating an adaptation to the new AI-enhanced educational landscape.
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