The burgeoning popularity of ChatGPT over the past
year has taken the world by storm, impacting many
industries and changing the world in both productive
as well as destructive ways. Besides ChatGPT, similar
software such as Adobe Firefly and DALL-E are making
their mark. Will these technologies become a threat or
an asset to education and the wider society?
Before we come up with an answer, let us explore
the magic of the core technology of ChatGPT, i.e.
the generative artificial intelligence. First of all, AI Is
not new. In fact, my own IT company used an early
form of AI technology, ‘Prolog,' in creating a timetable
scheduling software package for local primary
and secondary schools more than 30 years ago. But
things have moved on. In addition to having a very
powerful AI engine, the success of ChatGPT relies on
a sophisticated user interface and knowledge-based
systems (KBS) which are connected to a very large pool
of resources. Basically, AI is a kind of logic thinking
done by the computers. Its implementation can be
done via AI programming which is composed of
high-level declarative language with built-in intelligent
predicates (e.g. backtracking) and knowledge
engineering, trying to find all possible solutions
which are then filtered or trained to provide the most
appropriate solution. In other words, its output is
not absolutely correct. It is also not limited to text:
Generative AI is a newer term covering the generation
of text, images or other media in response to human
inputs (or prompts). This is a very powerful natural
language processing tool.
AI – what's new?
What is the difference between AI and non-AI
applications? Technically speaking, there are
two approaches in computing programming,
namely, conventional programming (or procedural
programming) and AI programming. Conventional
programming languages are imperative for primitive data processing needs. Using these languages, e.g.
Java and Visual Basic, the programmer's task is to code
step-by-step instructions (procedures) sequentially for
the computer to follow in processing data to arrive
at a solution. Knowledge is represented throughout
the programme in the form of procedures. Given a
set of data inputs, a conventional programme is able
to deterministically produce the single correct output.
Using the input-processing-output concept, if the
inputs and the procedures are correct, then the output
must be correct. In contrast, AI programming is able
to solve problems non-deterministically by deducing
a set of all possible solutions that can satisfy a user's
query. Therefore, it is error-prone but the accuracy can
be improved by ‘training.' In other words, conventional
programmes focus on how to accomplish the mission
while AI programmes represent a descriptive style
of programming where the programming task is to
declare what is known about a knowledge domain.
This knowledge comprises facts about domain entities
and rules that permit inferencing about them.
In this information age, knowledge is the most
precious of all resources and increasingly organisations
are turning to AI and expert systems for an effective
means to manage this resource. KBS differs from
traditional database systems in that they are able to
reason about data and draw conclusions employing
heuristic rules. With many heuristic rules encoded
into its knowledge base (together with a mechanism
for inferencing called an inference engine), a KBS can
‘reason' about problem situations and can generate
a range of likely solutions. Besides the use of AI's
heuristics in KBS, machine learning algorithms can be
used to replicate processes and patterns previously
gathered and can remember these processes / patterns
for further problem solving. Thus, according to
websites such as enoumen.com, combining heuristics
with machine learning technology makes for more
accurate and reliable predictions and greater efficiency. ChatGPT contains a super KBS with contents coming
from many sources including the internet.
Drawbacks - cheating
Having discovered the magic of AI, now let us discuss
the drawbacks of using it in education. One of the
most controversial topics is student cheating in
higher education. Through assignments, students
are typically required to explore the nature of the
subject domain by themselves and then give in-depth
analysis (according to the questions asked) resulting
in deeper knowledge acquired. This has been a very
effective educational tool in the past, particularly
because students' answers should be different as
they are usually responding to an open question.
Thus, plagiarism is reduced to a minimum. However,
if the students can use ChatGPT to generate essays
and other written assignments, then the work
produced may be hardly distinguishable from that
made by human beings. This is very unfair to those
students who have not used ChatGPT in completing
the assignments. In other words, ChatGPT has
made cheating easier without guaranteeing actual
understanding of the subject domain by the students.
Benefits - invigilation
The use of ChatGPT can however be helpful to
education. Although students can use ChatGPT to
cheat in assignments, it can also help educators
create more innovative assignments which require
students' critical thinking and practical problemsolving
techniques rather than merely an acquisition
of deeper knowledge. Students can use ChatGPT for
exploratory study and efficient deeper learning, and
the potential benefits are being recognised in the
higher education sector. Whilst writing this article, a
Hong Kong university announced that they will allow
their students to use ChatGPT in their coursework
preparation up to 20 times per month. In addition,
ChatGPT can be used to analyse candidates' behaviour
during examinations so that cheating cases can be
easily detected. In our own university, responses have
been intensively used to monitor students' behaviour
during online examinations in the Covid period.
However, there were many critics on its effectiveness
mainly because of the potential loopholes. Using
ChatGPT and other similar tools, it is possible to
monitor and analyse all of each candidate's behaviour
(e.g. eyeball movement frequency and direction)
closely while at the same time holistically monitoring
and analysing the whole class behaviour in real time
mode. Although in the post-Covid era we do not
need to run examinations online, cheating during examinations is still potentially a big problem. ChatGPT
can be deployed in many productive ways. Even
recognising that the nature of AI may not be 100%
accurate, as mentioned above, it could be used to
provide alerts to invigilators. In addition to this usage,
ChatGPT can be used in understanding students'
psychological and emotional problems rather than
relying on the busy school counsellors who may have
too many cases to follow.
The governance issue
Governance has the objective of making sure the acts
and deeds of practitioners fulfil legal requirements
and meet society's ethical standards. In education
we have stakeholders from students and staff who
may wish to use ChatGPT in their work. For students,
the amount of use of ChatGPT in completing the
coursework should be defined clearly as a guideline.
Apart from that, if there is no control over the use of
ChatGPT in the office, quality may be a big question.
Senior management should set out clear guidelines in
using ChatGPT for administrative staff. Furthermore,
although ChatGPT can be used to monitor students'
behaviour during exams as well as potential
psychological issues, improper use may affect the
privacy of students. Therefore, all users should follow
the data privacy ordinance.
To sum up, an effective governance on the use
generative AI tools needs to be put in place.
The government or the senior management
of organisations, with the help of professional
organisations, should form a steering committee to
define the policies, guidelines and procedures for
using such productive but also potentially dangerous
generative AI tools. AI is such a smart and powerful
tool that its use has to be properly governed. If it is
used in the wrong way it becomes a threat; if it is used
in a productive way it becomes an asset. Let's make it
a power for the good.
