Good and bad of AI

ChatGPT, a new artificial intelligence technology, has been a helpful tool as well as a problem here in the Channel Islands. 

This new software, Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer – otherwise known as ChatGPT is an AI chatbot that was released in November of 2022 by the company OpenAI. Its job is to assist users with any questions they may give it or to follow any commands. Considering what this software does, it has been used for completing the work of students. 

“This software truly upsets me as it robs students of their opportunity to grapple with something that might be challenging,” says Ms. Milly Madonna, an English teacher here at CI. 

Some students have been using this artificial intelligence technology to their advantage by writing essays for them, Ms. Madonna said. This, along with other AI software, has reinforced the idea, the fact, that our world is relying more on technology to live our daily lives, to do tasks for us. It has added to more of the things we can rely on technology for, one of which is writing. 

Snapchat has released a new AI friend for users to interact with called MyAI. It allows users to customize their avatar, change their name, and send messages that they will respond to instantaneously. Users have been treating it like a friend by starting conversations and even giving personal information. DeepFakes are another type of AI used to create fake and convincing videos, audio, and images. 

Despite the problems it has caused, ChatGPT has also been a helpful tool for some. 

“I think that it is interesting to see how far we have come with computers and it is fun to see what it can do,” says Ms. Elizabeth Harrell, CI science teacher. “I also think AI is scary in that as it improves it becomes harder to discern what was created by a person or what was computer generated.” 

It has been used as a helpful tool for CI’s teacher-librarian Ms. Kimberly Tahsuda. Not only has it been of use for writing emails, field trip justifications, and creating assignments, Ms. Tahsuda said, but it has also been used as a learning tool. Ms. Tahsuda said she had written an example of a concluding paragraph to show her son. 

Not only can ChatGPT be used for writing essays, but it can be used to explain concepts, teach how to do something, summarize movies and books, and give out ideas. There are many pros and cons to this software. It may not always be a reliable source to get information or complete work, as it is a technology and can have errors or generate incorrect information. It has limited knowledge of the world after the year 2021, which is shown on the opening page of the ChatGPT site. 

“AI isn’t too intelligent yet; it’s missing that human flow to it because it’s artificial,” said senior Mia Hendrickson.  

A future with ChatGPT could cause many potential problems if students and teachers don’t learn about its uses, and how to use it properly as a tool. Ms. Madonna believes teachers should set certain procedures for writing to ensure that students write their essays themselves.

Banning it on Chromebooks wouldn’t stop anyone from using it, Ms. Tahsuda said. She believes we should learn how to use it rather than ban it.