AI bot ChatGPT writes smart essays — should academics worry?

[Jalapeñomel]

The bot is free for now and can produce uncannily natural, well-referenced writing in response to homework questions.


www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-04397-7

We’ve been having quite a bit of discussion about this, since DH is an English professor. Curious what your thoughts are?

[nsl]

I am so glad that I'm not an English teacher anymore.

The examples I've seen on HS teacher/CC instructor Twitter over the last few days have been polished but also superficial in terms of analysis. This is going to force writing instructors (among others--every single discipline is going to have to reckon with this technology in the next 24 months) to A: assign more paper-pencil and in-class writing, and B: grapple with the depth of analysis they're requiring in student work.

[mcppalmbeach]

For someone who values the craft of writing and has done it professionally, it’s heartbreaking really. I’m actually surprised it took so long. I spent my career prior to kids in marketing and pr and one of my colleagues recently went back to work in a pr agency and basically she oversees the “content” that an AI writes using key words. She does proofread, but no actual writing is done.

[jinkies]

Hmm. I'm having trouble articulating my thoughts here.

A few points that come to mind:

1. My H often laughs about math teachers who wouldn't let kids use calculators when we were in school, because "you won't always have a calculator!" And now virtually everyone has a calculator on their phone, in their pocket at all times. I wonder if this is the start of writing going a similar way.

2. I always wanted to be a writer growing up, and have spent most of my career in communications/marketing. So it's not that I don't value writing. But I also have a DD with multiple learning disabilities who will never be a great writer. I do see the potential for something like this to be a tool to help her succeed in life if she can get a draft and that just edit/refine/make sure it includes all her thoughts, as opposed to writing from scratch which is daunting.

3. I agree with a lot of the points in the article, particularly that students have always been able to outsource school work and essays if they didn't want to put in the work. They just had to pay for it. Yes, this is free and therefore easier to access, but I also appreciate that while previously only wealthy students could cheat their way to good grades, this now allows anyone to cheat their way to greatness (tongue in cheek here, but also sort of... not? Mediocre rich kids have been doing this forever)

4. I also agree with the article that people always panic in the face of new technologies, but they will find different ways to assess what they need to.

[quesyrah]

This has been a hot topic in my @@@homeschool groups@@@

Several people who are former teachers or college professors say that unless the only thing a student has ever turned in is bot work, then they can tell the writing style doesn’t match what is typically turned in.

They also said that a way around this would be requiring in-person writing to establish tone/style or requiring outlines and rough drafts to be turned in.

[quesyrah]

Dec 12, 2022 9:49:13 GMT -5 jinkies said:

Hmm. I'm having trouble articulating my thoughts here.

A few points that come to mind:

1. My H often laughs about math teachers who wouldn't let kids use calculators when we were in school, because "you won't always have a calculator!" And now virtually everyone has a calculator on their phone, in their pocket at all times. I wonder if this is the start of writing going a similar way.

2. I always wanted to be a writer growing up, and have spent most of my career in communications/marketing. So it's not that I don't value writing. But I also have a DD with multiple learning disabilities who will never be a great writer. I do see the potential for something like this to be a tool to help her succeed in life if she can get a draft and that just edit/refine/make sure it includes all her thoughts, as opposed to writing from scratch which is daunting.

3. I agree with a lot of the points in the article, particularly that students have always been able to outsource school work and essays if they didn't want to put in the work. They just had to pay for it. Yes, this is free and therefore easier to access, but I also appreciate that while previously only wealthy students could cheat their way to good grades, this now allows anyone to cheat their way to greatness (tongue in cheek here, but also sort of... not? Mediocre rich kids have been doing this forever)

4. I also agree with the article that people always panic in the face of new technologies, but they will find different ways to assess what they need to.

@@@ we homeschool but have an academic advisor. She advised me to give the kids a calculator once they had basic math facts down. So mine have been using a calculator since about 4th grade.@@@