The good and bad of ChatGPT
Student opening ChatGPT on a computer. (Photo: Nicholas Gross, The Puma Prensa)
By Advait Sathe, staff writer
ChatGPT is a new, cutting edge AI language model that allows for advanced natural language processing, making it perfect for the average user to take advantage of. ChatGPT is an incredibly useful tool in various applications, but as with most new technology, there are some obvious ethical concerns around it, especially in the field of education. When you first log into ChatGPT, you are presented with a few instructions and warnings on the use of ChatGPT. Then, you are presented with a simple text input box, where you can type in your command. After sending your message, ChatGPT will spend a few seconds thinking, then give you an answer. The main concern of this is its use in assignments, where students can just ask it to answer the assignment for them.
Another potential concern is that ChatGPT could be used to cheat on tests, homework, and other assignments. However, there are measures that can be taken to prevent this, such as using software, such as writer.com or Copyleaks, to detect AI writing, and creating assignments where ChatGPT can be used as a tool to research information or make an outline instead of something to generate answers. ChatGPT can be used to research information to help you finish your assignment, rather than using it to do the whole assignment for you. ChatGPT is able to compile the whole internet's information into a single paragraph, so you don't have to search Google for hours to find answers.
The concern that many have is that ChatGPT, in the long run, could be used instead of human teachers to teach and create lessons for students, leading to many teachers losing their jobs and a lack of person to person interaction at school is also unfounded. ChatGPT is not meant to replace human teachers, but rather to assist them and provide time with access to a large amount of information quickly and reliably, helping to create assignments and homework that is actually meaningful to students' learning. Paired with ChatGPT’s ability to write code, teachers can use code to make more interactive lessons and make learning more engaging by creating assignments. Teachers can make interactive assignments by making a website that provides text, and then questions styled to the students type of learning.
Additionally, there are concerns that ChatGPT could have biases in its answers, leading to eventual inaccuracies in the information provided. To address this, ChatGPT can be fine-tuned by schools and companies to make it more aligned towards what they want ChatGPT to do, and retrained on new data, which can reduce or eliminate these biases. The fine-tuning of ChatGPT can also be used in schools to create an AI that can be used for research, not answers for assignments.
Arav Patil, a freshman, believes that ChatGPT can provide a “foothold, a spark of imagination on an assignment, rather than completing it.” From this point, students can put in their own thoughts and structure. This can also help students that aren't doing too well in school, by giving them a little boost in subjects that they are learning in class, by giving them a summary of all the stuff that is being covered in the unit.
The uses of ChatGPT are not limited to just education, though. ChatGPT can be used in many industries, such as game and website development. One junior, Igor Shirokov, has already used ChatGPT in a game that he is creating. Shirokov used ChatGPT to help him develop a pathfinding algorithm for his game. The algorithm he made is a baseline for his game, and is “one of the primary mechanics,” Shirokov said.
ChatGPT could also be used to respond to customer service requests. For example, when a customer asks a question that is frequently asked, ChatGPT could be used to answer the question without transferring the person to a live agent. Because of ChatGPT’s ability to store information from previous queries, a company could tell it what they have in their inventory, and ChatGPT could then give updates on shipments and returns. This would save corporations a lot of money and help reduce the load on customer service teams.
It can also be used for statistical analysis, according to Guransh Singh, a freshman at Carrillo. He believes that it can help with things like “translating or analyzing patterns in data,” though he thinks that “it should be kept out of the work environment.”
ChatGPT is a powerful tool that can be used for many purposes, these features are accessible to the most basic user, allowing anyone to utilize the maximum potential of ChatGPT.