Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology has long been a subject of interest and fascination due to its portrayal in sci fi books and movies such as Terminator and The Matrix. As AI technology becomes more sophisticated and integrated into our daily lives, concerns about its potential dangers are being raised. One AI technology that has gained popularity in recent months is ChatGPT, garnering 96 million users in March 2023. Chat GPT is a natural-language model that can communicate with people in a human-like manner. While ChatGPT can provide valuable responses and assistance, there are also several dangers from this AI technology because of its crucial limitations.
We all know Chat GPT, but how does it relate to Stevenson? We first posed a sample question to Chat GPT that some students would ask — asking for an essay on the graphic novel Maus.
We interviewed Stevenson students about how they use the app. Most students considered ChatGPT a search engine that analyzes the needed information and had positive views towards the app. Students also added that while Chat GPT could be referenced for academic purposes, it also generates interesting responses to questions arising from general curiosity about a broad range of topics. Some students said that they treat ChatGPT’s response in the same way they would an article in a Google search. Also, a student observed, “Some teachers even encouraged students to use Chat GPT for classes because it is a valuable tool for us.” Students mostly were positive towards the new technological revolution.
ChatGPT has many benefits for students; it answers most questions quickly and quite accurately, provides details and sources needed for research, and it can help generate creative ideas and topics for papers. ChatGPT could be used in everyday life for students when they have a question. For example, if a student is curious about when World War II ended, Chat GPT gives an accurate answer. The speed of ChatGPT is much better than search engines such as Google since you don’t need to go through multiple websites to access information. With the new technology, schoolwork would be done much faster — though with some attendant ethical issues. These benefits mean that, for students, ChatGPT as an educational tool is a game changer.
However, ChatGPT does have limitations. Since ChatGPT gets its information from publicly accessible data sources on the internet, the AI is known to provide wrong answers occasionally. The information provided to ChatGPT is also limited to the year 2021 and before, though new plugins will soon allow access to more recent data. Thus, ChatGPT cannot now offer the most up-to-date information on current events, and students won’t be able to use it for specific assignments such as a debate on recent Supreme Court rulings. Furthermore, the accessible version of ChatGPT is frequently overloaded during peak times and thus inaccessible. A paid version of ChatGPT with the most current model costs $20 a month — a big expense for many people — although it allows faster responses and more accurate and detailed information.
ChatGPT is a crucial newborn technology that will benefit students and teachers. Students were able to ask questions and receive immediate responses, helping them to understand complex topics and concepts. Teachers could use ChatGPT to supplement their lessons, providing additional information and answering questions. ChatGPT teaches how much AI technology is getting developed, and some say it achieves the first breakthrough in passing the Turing test: one gets the impression when dealing with ChatGPT that one is consulting a human-level intelligence.
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