Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a rapidly evolving technology that is transforming many areas of society, including academia. AI has the potential to revolutionize academic research by automating routine tasks, identifying patterns in large data sets, and enabling new modes of discovery. However, the adoption of AI in academia also presents challenges, including the need for new skills and the potential for bias and ethical concerns. In this paper, we will explore the opportunities and challenges of AI in academia.
Researchers used a series of prompts and questions in an innovative new study to encourage ChatGPT to produce the type of content commonly seen in academic publications. Researchers claim that their paper’s discussion section, which was written independently of the software, demonstrates the new levels of sophistication that AI now offers, as well as the opportunities and challenges it poses for the academic community.
According to an innovative study written in large part using the software, ChatGPT has the potential to create increasing and exciting opportunities for the academic community, but it also poses significant challenges.
ChatGPT, which will be launched in November 2022, is the latest chatbot and artificial intelligence (AI) platform that has the potential to revolutionize research and education. However, as technology advances, there is growing concern in the educational sector about academic honesty and plagiarism.
To address some of these concerns, the new study employs ChatGPT to demonstrate not only how sophisticated Large Language Machines (LLMs) have become, but also the steps that can be taken to ensure their influence remains positive.
Banning ChatGPT, as was done within New York schools, can only be a short-term solution while we think how to address the issues. AI is already widely accessible to students outside their institutions, and companies like Microsoft and Google are rapidly incorporating it into search engines and Office suites.
Dr. Peter Cotton
Published in the peer-reviewed journal Innovations in Education and Teaching International, the research was conceived by academics from Plymouth Marjon University and the University of Plymouth. For the majority of the paper, they used a series of prompts and questions to encourage ChatGPT to produce content in an academic style. These included:
Write an original academic paper, with references, describing the implications of GPT-3 for assessment in higher education;
- How can academics prevent students from plagiarising using GPT-3?
- Are there any technologies that will check if work has been written by a chatbot?
Produce several witty and intelligent titles for an academic research paper on the challenges universities face in ChatGPT and plagiarism. Once the text was generated, they copied and pasted the output into the manuscript, ordered it broadly following the structure suggested by ChatGPT, and then inserted genuine references throughout.
This process was only revealed to readers in the Discussion section of the paper, which was written entirely by the researchers without the assistance of the software. The study’s authors emphasize in that section that, while ChatGPT’s text is much more sophisticated than previous innovations in this area, it can be relatively formulaic, and that a number of existing AI-detection tools would pick up on that.
They do, however, believe that their findings should serve as a wake-up call to university staff to reconsider the design of their assessments and ways to ensure that academic dishonesty is clearly explained to students and minimized.
The study’s lead author is Professor Debby Cotton, Director of Academic Practice and Professor of Higher Education at Plymouth Marjon University. She stated: “This latest AI development obviously poses significant challenges for universities, not least in terms of testing student knowledge and teaching writing skills – but, on the bright side, it provides an opportunity for us to reconsider what we want students to learn and why. I’d like to believe that AI will enable us to automate some of the more administrative tasks that academics perform, freeing up more time to work with students.”
Corresponding author Dr. Peter Cotton, Associate Professor in Ecology at the University of Plymouth, added: “Banning ChatGPT, as was done within New York schools, can only be a short-term solution while we think how to address the issues. AI is already widely accessible to students outside their institutions, and companies like Microsoft and Google are rapidly incorporating it into search engines and Office suites. The chat (sic) is already out of the bag, and the challenge for universities will be to adapt to a paradigm where the use of AI is the expected norm.”
According to Dr. Reuben Shipway, Lecturer in Marine Biology at the University of Plymouth: “There will be winners and losers with any new revolutionary technology, and this is a revolutionary technology. Those who fail to adapt to a rapidly changing landscape will be the losers. The winners will take a pragmatic approach and capitalize on this technology.”
