The magic (or curse, depending on how you look at it) of artificial intelligence has arrived in classrooms. Today we head to Australia, where universities have been forced to change their way of conducting exams and other work. The cause is the growing fear that students will use AI to cheat.
One of the new rules imposed strictly prohibits the use of any type of artificial intelligence. The reason behind this decision is that some students have already been caught using ChatGPT, the famous chatbot from OpenAI.
It was only a matter of time before tools like ChatGPT became popular among students. Experts warn that universities must adapt to this situation or they will be caught in a race they can never win.
In Softonic, we have already analyzed the amazing capabilities of ChatGPT and it is not for nothing. Its amazing features have led it to be banned on all devices in public schools in New York due to its “negative impact on students’ learning.” On the other hand, some academics have already tested ChatGPT with exams and the results are worrying.
In London, a teacher asked the chatbot an exam question and the answer it gave was “coherent, complete, and sticks to the points, something that students usually don’t do.” The conclusion he reached was that he had to “establish a different type of exam” in the future to avoid the use of ChatGPT.
In Australia, academics are very concerned about the situation. As a result, the Group of Eight leading universities of Australia stated that they would change the form of evaluation to avoid the misuse of this technology by students. The executive deputy director of the group, Matthew Brown, stated that universities “have reviewed the way they will carry out evaluations in 2023, which would include supervised exams […] and a greater use of paper and pencil.”
However, nothing really serious has happened yet. Although some cases of cheating have been observed, they were easily detectable. Still, it is expected that the situation will worsen in the near future. Toby Walsh, a professor of AI at the University of New South Wales, said that “people are already using it to send compositions.” The professor also admits a failure on the part of the education system: “we should have been aware that this was coming… and we tend to sleepwalk into the future. […] it’s a radical change: it’s accessible, its interface is pleasant, and it’s easy to use.”
Who knows if this movement ultimately benefits both students and teachers. In the end, AI also represents a great opportunity to innovate and test new ways of educating.
