OpenAI's ChatGPT continues to grow in popularity with its promises in advancing several industries. The tool was only introduced in November 2022, but even if it is relatively new, it is already gaining so much steam that many are claiming it to be the next big thing in tech.
However, the education sector is not so keen on welcoming this AI tool as it may potentially encourage students to cheat on their paperwork.
The same can be said for the research world as two of the most prestigious journals Science and Springer Nature, have recently introduced new editorial standards to exclude or severely limit ChatGPT and other AI tools in writing research papers.
However, some are also very welcoming of this tool. In fact, a teacher from Kentucky literally welcomed ChatGPT in his fifth-grade classroom and challenged his students to outwit the AI robot.
Illustration picture shows the ChatGPT artificial intelligence software, which generates human-like conversation, Friday 03 February 2023 in Lierde.
"Find the Bot"
According to a report by AP, teacher Donnie Piercy believes that ChatGPT is the future. He believes that educators have not figured out how to maximize artificial intelligence tools but notes that it will eventually be integrated into the education system whether some may like it or not.
In one of his class's exercises, students competed against the software in a fun, interactive writing game. Each student described a piece on Muhammad Ali, a Kentucky legend, and then tried to identify which text was produced by the chatbot as part of Piercey's "Find the Bot" assignment.
Piercey is less concerned about plagiarism and cheating in elementary school than in high school. His school district has allowed teachers access to ChatGPT except for students.
AP reports that many teachers around the nation agree that districts need time to assess the chatbot but also recognize the pointlessness of a ban because tech-savvy students may still easily access it.
Piercey questioned his class about the abilities they were able to perfect after playing a few rounds of "Find the Bot."
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Playwriting
The class then moved on to playwriting, where the kids split up into groups and wrote down the characters of a brief play with three scenes and a narrative that contained a problem that needed to be solved.
Piercey entered information from worksheets into the ChatGPT website along with directions to create the atmosphere of a fifth-grade classroom and included a surprise resolution. It produced complete scripts line by line, which the students altered, quickly practiced, and then performed.
One involved a student embarking on a search for a class computer that had escaped. The chatbot's unanticipated narrative twists, which included taking the children on a time-traveling excursion, made the classroom chuckle, as per AP's report.
ChatGPT is still relatively new and with all its pros and cons, it will only be a matter of time whether it will change the way similar to when the Internet was introduced.
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