Imagine this: You're struggling with your homework, wondering how you're meant to answer a particularly hard question. The deadline is tomorrow at 7 am, and it's 1 am in the morning. You're tired and frustrated; how are you meant to answer this question- and get some sleep- before it must be submitted?
Suddenly, the answer is flashing right before your eyes- or rather, on your computer screen. You could use ChatGPT, an AI chatbot, to help you! With a little bit of typing and a click, the difficult question is explained in a simpler way in a flash, allowing you to finally complete your assignment, turn it in, and earn yourself that well-deserved sleep.
ChatGPT has both pros and cons when it comes to use in schools- especially for homework. On the one hand, it could provide great help in terms of your studies by helping to explain things, elaborate on ideas, or provide inspiration for revision strategies.
However, ChatGPT can also have its capabilities abused by students who just want to avoid doing their assignments- for example, by asking it their homework questions in order to get straight to the answers without any real thinking. With the advantages and disadvantages in mind, to what extent should ChatGPT be allowed- or even encouraged- in schools?
Pro: It's helpful for narrowing things down
Suffice it to say that most students have read at least one tricky question in their homework and have been slightly confused- either because the question is too difficult because the wording is strange to them, or sometimes even a mixture of both. This is where the first advantage of ChatGPT comes in. If you're struggling, you can simply type in the question and ask the AI to provide a simpler explanation in order to narrow down what you need to do to answer the question.
It's a useful feature that could help if a similar question comes up in your future exams because you now know how to go about answering it. Furthermore, this is a good way to revise, too.
Con: AI-generated answers are cheating
Some students may decide to skip over the narrowing down of the question and simply ask ChatGPT to answer the question straight away. Although this can be helpful in generating model answers, especially to written essay questions, this isn't very helpful in the long term. For one thing, the AI may generate work that is far beyond your capacity to produce; this does not reflect your actual ability level, and while certain subjects may be frustrating and difficult for you, it's overall much better- and far more rewarding in the long run- to put in your own effort.
In addition, using AI in exams is seen to be cheating by virtually all schools, meaning you could potentially fail a subject if caught. Because of this, it's not worth the risk involved in trying to generate a full answer.
Pro: Notes can be generated and organised with a click
ChatGPT is not only useful as an AI chatbot- it doubles as a more advanced search engine. This means that students can ask for notes on a certain topic- for example, some facts about animal cells- and the AI can quickly generate facts and organise them into clear, concise notes that one can then use for revision. Not only is this a speedy way of creating notes, but it can also be helpful if you struggle with organisation or don't know how to categorise your facts and figures.
Additionally, because ChatGPT gathers information from all over the Internet, it ensures that the facts are from different websites, meaning your knowledge is more widespread. If you use this method, make sure to cross-reference your generated facts to make sure that they're accurate.
Con: The AI could be out-of-date
Using an AI like ChatGPT to generate notes on historical or general topics can be helpful. However, the AI only has a certain knowledge capacity and is often behind by a year or more, meaning it has little to no knowledge of more recent events. For example, when I asked the ChatGPT chatbot what its knowledge threshold is today, it said that it “has a knowledge cutoff [of] July 2023”, meaning it has no information on what has happened since then.
Because of this knowledge cut off, it's wise to ask ChatGPT- or whichever AI bot you'd like to use- where its knowledge threshold is. In this way, you can decide whether it'll be useful to you or not. If the AI is too outdated, it won't be of much use to you in terms of more recent events.
Pro: It can help predict your grade
Have you ever felt the anticipation of waiting for your grade after you complete an assignment? ChatGPT can be used to predict your result and give a general overview of how well you've done. For example, if you've written a particularly long essay- but don't feel like going through the entire mark scheme- you could simply ask AI to mark it for you and predict (roughly) how well you've done.
This feature is especially useful if you're the type of person who struggles with the anxiety of waiting for your grades to come out, and if also helpful if you want to know how to improve. Just be aware that the AI could use an out-of-date mark scheme; it's always best to let your teacher have the final say. However, as a prediction, ChatGPT can be useful for seeing how well you might have done.
Con: Not everything the AI says is true
ChatGPT is, as a general rule, very accurate. However, as with all AI-generated content, it can create information that is inaccurate, offensive, or biased. This is because of the huge amount of information the AI learns from and remembers.
Picture it like human memories: You have hundreds, if not thousands, of memories, but you can only remember some of them in detail. Others get pushed out or changed as you create more, and sometimes your brain just makes things up in order to fill in the gaps. It's similar to ChatGPT: It remembers so much information that it sometimes gets “confused” and provides false information. With this in mind, you should always cross-reference the information the AI generates using a trusted source to double-check if it's fact or fiction.
Conclusion
As with all AI tools, ChatGPT is not without its disadvantages. It could be abused by students who simply want to ignore the responsibility of their schoolwork. However, it could equally be utilised by schools to aid their students in terms of revision and note-taking.
So long as ChatGPT is used responsibly, and so long as rules and regulations are set surrounding it in order to ensure that no cheating is seen, there is no reason to deny students the right to use ChatGPT in schools, as it can be a great help to them. Furthermore, ChatGPT should be allowed- and encouraged- in schools to a great extent, provided that it is used responsibly.
