A government minister has said that school children should be permitted to use AI technology, such as ChatGPT, when completing their homework.
Science minister Peter Kyle said he believed the use of ChatGPT and similar programs was fine if done under supervision. The technology, which has exploded in popularity in recent years, allows users to generate whole essays with fairly minimal prompts.
Some universities have already taken steps to ban or minimise the use of ChatGPT and AI technology, with some allowing it for spelling and grammar correction purposes.
Kyle claimed that AI could be beneficial for students who struggle in traditional learning environments. When asked by the BBC if using AI to complete homework was acceptable, Kyle responded, ‘Actually with supervision and used in the right way, then yes, because ChatGPT and the AI technology that is using language is already being used across the economy.’
Kyle also compared concern that AI use would mean students would not actually learn anything, to similar concerns about using calculators in maths.
Unwise Comments?
Kyle’s comments are concerning for a number of reasons.
First of all, they would suggest that the purpose of schooling is to hand in the correct answers to the teachers, rather than to actually learn anything. Using ChatGPT may allows a student to hand in an A* essay, but if they didn’t write it themselves, or do the research required, then nothing of value has been accomplished.
Secondly, the idea that using AI under supervision for homework is a complete non-starter. How many students, especially of secondary school age, do their homework under the supervision of their parents? This is just not going to happen.
Thirdly Kyle’s comparison with the pocket calculator is foolish. There is a value to the pocket calculator, and there may even be some value for ChatGPT. It is useful to be able to solve harder mathematical questions quickly and conveniently. Anyone who’s ever used Excel knows this. In other words, there is a time and a place.
There is also immense value in humans being able to do these things themselves. Hence, it is common in mathematics to sit two exams, one in which calculators are permitted and on in which they are not.
It’s possible that AI technology may find a suitable place in the education of young people, but the concern that it will be used to cheat and to sidestep the important process of actually learning something is very real.
Already universities have had to put in place policies to ensure that ChatGPT is not used by students as a way of apparently acing their essays with minimal effort.
