Could artificial intelligence (AI) put an end to homework forever? Elon Musk certainly thinks so.
That’s because the new AI chatbot ChatGPT is reportedly able to quickly produce unique assignments in a style of writing dictated by the user.
As a result, students across the world could use it to do their homework for them without the teacher ever knowing.
The billionaire boss tweeted ‘It’s a new world. Goodbye homework!’ in response to an article about the New York City Department of Education blocking ChatGPT on school devices.
Elon Musk (pictured) has claimed artificial intelligence programme ChatGPT will be able to fool teachers thanks to its eerily human-like responses
The billionaire boss tweeted ‘It’s a new world. Goodbye homework!’ in response to an article about the New York City Department of Education blocking ChatGPT on school devices
Officials from the US department confirmed the ban earlier this week, citing ‘negative impacts on student learning, and concerns regarding the safety and accuracy of content’ to Chalkbeat New York.
‘While the tool may be able to provide quick and easy answers to questions, it does not build critical-thinking and problem-solving skills, which are essential for academic and lifelong success,’ added department spokesperson Jenna Lyle.
ChatGPT has been trained on a huge sample of text from the internet, and can understand human language, conduct conversations with humans and generate detailed text.
Last month, it was reported that a student at Furman University in South Carolina had used ChatGPT to write an essay.
Their philosophy professor, Dr Darren Hick, wrote on Facebook that they were the ‘first plagiarist’ he’d caught using the programme.
He noted that there were a number of red flags that alerted him to its use including that the essay ‘made no sense’ and that ChatGPT ‘sucks at citing’.
However, he also warned that it was a ‘game-changer’ and that education professionals should ‘expect a flood’ of students following suit.
Kevin Bryan, an associate professor of strategic management at the University of Toronto, said he was ‘shocked’ by the capabilities of ChatGPT after he tested it by having the AI write numerous exam answers.
‘You can no longer give take-home exams/homework,’ he said at the start of a thread detailing the AI’s abilities.
ChatGPT has been trained on a gigantic sample of text from the internet, and can understand human language, conduct conversations with humans and generate detailed text
OpenAI was founded in late 2015 by Mr Musk, CEO Sam Altman, and others, who collectively pledged $1 billion (£816,000). Mr Musk resigned from the board in February 2018 but remained a donor, and has referred to its chatbot ‘scary good’
In the UK, headteachers could soon receive official guidance to help them stop pupils using it to write their essays and exam coursework.
Tory MP Luke Evans raised the issue in the Commons before the recess by reading a speech which had been written by the chatbot.
He instructed the bot to write a Churchillian style speech on the state of the UK over the past 12 months.
Exams watchdog Ofqual is considering whether it needs to introduce guidance over fears of widespread plagiarism.
A spokesperson for the government department told The Telegraph: ‘We speak regularly with exam boards about risks, including malpractice risks, and will consider whether additional advice or guidance might be helpful.
‘Sanctions for cheating are serious, including being disqualified from a qualification.’
ChatGPT was released by Silicon Valley firm OpenAI, which said: ‘The dialogue format makes it possible for ChatGPT to answer followup questions, admit its mistakes, challenge incorrect premises, and reject inappropriate requests.’
The programme does not trawl the internet for answers in the model of Google Search, and its knowledge is restricted to things it learned before 2021.
It is also prone to giving simplistic, more moderate responses.
A ChatGPT response after it was asked to write an essay about how important it is for the UK and Switzerland to be part of the EU’s research program Horizon Europe
Another Twitter user set a challenge for ChatGPT to come up with the solution for (pictured)
OpenAI was founded in late 2015 by Mr Musk, CEO Sam Altman, and others, who collectively pledged $1 billion (£816,000).
Mr Musk resigned from the board in February 2018 but remained a donor, and has referred to its chatbot ‘scary good’.
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