The first was the New York Department of Education: “Due to fears about the negative impact of student learning, the use of ChatGPT is banned on New York public school networks and devices.” Shortly after, it was the turn of Los Angeles, with a decision similar to that of the Big Apple.
Then, again, the eight main Australian universities, which have decided to return to pen and paper for written exams, precisely following concerns that students could use artificial intelligence to generate texts during the tests.
All over the world, theschool and education in general are starting to come to grips with ChatGPT (here we explained how it works) and with the ability of the AI to do written homework for the students.
It’s Italy? At the time of writing, in our country there are no measures similar to the American or Australian ones. But something is moving.
“It is certainly appropriate to regulate the use of artificial intelligence in the classroom, perhaps in a different way between primary and secondary schools, as is already done with smartphones or the simple calculator – he points out to Italian.Tech Gianna Barbieri, Director General for school construction and digital school of the Ministry of Education and Merit -. But building walls doesn’t stop the wind: the school will have to respond to the challenge launched by the enormous potential of these tools”.
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Artificial intelligence and the Italian school system
Even before the arrival of ChatGPT, the European Commission had expressed itself on the subject in a document summarizing the “Ethical guidelines for educators on the use of artificial intelligence and data in teaching and learning”. In the guidelines, which however do not directly mention the production of texts as the OpenAI chatbot allows, at the center is training and awareness, through which educators can exploit these technologies to improve teaching.
“It seems to me – comments the president of the National Headmasters Association Antonello Giannelli – that AI can be a great opportunity for teachers and pupils, also in the light of the guidelines of the EU Commission. Positive and conscious interaction with these systems can only favor the innovation of teaching methodologies”.
Beyond the forecasts and guidelines, however, there is reality. “ChatGPT is a tool that many already use, unbeknownst to the teachers, at school and university – he confirms Francesco Intraguglielmo, founder and president of the student association Revolutionize the school -. The point is that Italian schools have not yet fully managed to adapt to Google: an example is Latin, for which 90% of students now find translations online. Imagine what impact a technology like ChatGPT can have on this model, still based on verifying knowledge and not on the growth of boys and girls”.
The case
The impact of ChatGPT on school: how to find out if a text has been written by an artificial intelligence
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The first step: train teachers and students in the conscious use of AI
In short, there are theoretical assumptions, based on what is indicated by the EU Commission. Just as there is an awareness of the possible impact of AI on the system. However, on the other hand, there is the daily reality of the school. Starting from these considerations, the discussion seems to have at least two central development points. First, there is the need to check if a text was generated by artificial intelligencepromoting, at the same time, a awareness in the use of these tools.
“What is happening with ChatGPT is not something new in an absolute sense – he explains Michael Nappi, full professor at the Department of Computer Science of the University of Salerno, the only Department of Excellence in this area in the Centre-South -. When there are radical technological evolutions, fears and worries emerge at first, but afterwards countermeasures are found, often equally technological, to face the problems that emerge”.
And indeed, these solutions are already on the way. OpenAI itself is thinking about ways to watermark generations of AI. Meanwhile, tools like GPTZero have emerged, which allow you to enter text for free and find out if it was created by artificial intelligence. Technological tools, however, are not enough by themselves. “Of course – continues Nappi – it is necessary that the teaching class is aware and trained and that effective verification tools are made available to them. If managed consciously by students and teachers, generative AI can be a support to teaching”.
Not only for teachers but also, with some caution, for students. “From our point of view – he confirms Paul Bresciastudent and PhD student representative for Sapienza in Movimento – I think there is a need to maintain and safeguard the autonomy of one’s personal productivity, especially with regard to university education. Having said that, it is clear that AI tools can be introduced into this routine, with awareness and attention”.
What happens next: Can ChatGPT change the way we think about education?
A series of reflections that lead to the second point of the discussion: for all this to work, it is possible that a rethinking of teaching and assessment methods. In an in-depth study by the US think tank Brookings, Adam Stevens, who has written a book entitled Making School Works, explained how ChatGPT can be a threat to those school systems whose “final goal is represented by grades and not by learning ”.
“For some years, particularly in American universities, increasingly automatic evaluation models have been widespread, which aim at standardizing processes: it seems to me that ChatGPT fits into this trend – he says Mark Bruno, associate professor at the Faculty of Sociology, Political Science and Communication at Sapienza University -. Now, if students write with AI and we grade automatically, what’s left of education? My idea is that this could be an opportunity for start talking about what education really isbeyond the obsession with the vote”.
A speech that is even more true for high schools. “Chasing technological development by looking for stop-gap solutions risks being a losing strategy – he confirms Antonio Coratti, professor of Philosophy at the Toscanelli Institute in Ostia and responsible for Castelvecchi of the series of essays Nuovo Lessico Critico -. I would lean towards another, more radical strategy: exploiting the opportunities that these technologies allow, without demonizing them, but changing both the way and the contents with which the school works. It’s certainly not easy, but technology can be an opportunity for growth”.
A growth that passes throughintegration of artificial intelligence in teaching, beyond just being used to generate responses to written assignments. “It will be important – concludes Gianna Barbieri, of the Ministry of Education and Merit – to work on cognitive and even non-cognitive meta-skills, functional to govern complex tools such as those implemented with AI. The school must increase the ability of critical discernment in students and offer them the basis for using any tool in an ethical way”.
Because the 3 great monotheistic religions want to have their say in terms of AI
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