“Don’t Want Students to Rely on ChatGPT? Have Them Use It: It’s Easy to Forget How Little Students and Educators Understand Generative AI’s Flaws. Once They Actually Try It Out, They’ll See That It Can’t Replace Them”, 2023-06-06 (; backlinks):
…as I thought about how to respond, I realized there could be a teaching opportunity. Many of these essays used sources incorrectly, either quoting from books that did not exist or misrepresenting those that did. When students were starting to use ChatGPT, they seemed to have no idea that it could be wrong.
I decided to have each student in my religion studies class at Elon University use ChatGPT to generate an essay based on a prompt I gave them and then “grade” it. I had anticipated that many of the essays would have errors, but I did not expect that all of them would. Many students expressed shock and dismay upon learning the AI could fabricate bogus information, including page numbers for nonexistent books and articles. Some were confused, simultaneously awed and disappointed. Others expressed concern about the way overreliance on such technology could induce laziness or spur disinformation and fake news. Closer to the bone were fears that this technology could take people’s jobs. Students were alarmed that major tech companies had pushed out AI technology without ensuring that the general population understands its drawbacks. The assignment satisfied my goal, which was to teach them that ChatGPT is neither a functional search engine nor an infallible writing tool.
…Students, and the population at large, are not using ChatGPT in these nuanced ways because they do not know that such options exist. The AI community does not realize how little information about this technology’s flaws and inaccuracies—as well as its strengths—has filtered into public view. Perhaps AI literacy can be expanded with assignments that incorporate these strategies, but we must start at the absolute baseline. By demystifying the technology, educators can reveal the fallible Wizard of Oz behind the curtain…Showing my students just how flawed ChatGPT is helped restore confidence in their own minds and abilities. No chatbot, even a fully reliable one, can wrest away my students’ understanding of their value as people.