Chat GPT’s impact on education

MANKATO, Minn. (KEYC) - Chat GPT is an artificial intelligence tool that has raised concerns in the academic community.

Some students find it useful in helping them in their work while some educators call it a double edged sword.

“If it’s capable of answering any questions there wouldn’t be any reason why anybody wouldn’t use it for any job,” said student Eyob Gezahegne.

ChatGPT has been sparking conversations nationwide, but here in Mankato, how will it affect education?

“Double edged sword. It has certain benefits. But it also has certain shortcomings,” said Dr. Rajeev Bukralia.

Students at MSU-Mankato say it can be used for more than just education, although some professors say it can cause headaches.

Student Madeline Ellingson said, “Even you can use it for practical things. Like where are some good places to travel somewhere and it will tell you that.”

“I don’t love it. I teach creative writing,” said Geoff Herbach.

Teachers say it’s ability to generate text quickly and accurately is the a.i’s academic appeal, which could provide opportunity for plagarism and cheating, however, it’s sensitive to prompt phrasing and excessivly wordy in its answers.

“The sentences were beautiful. It did not quite make sense and I was like what is happening here? And yeah, it was ChatGPT,” said Herbach.

Open AI states ChatGPT is still in its research stage and while it may not be reliably accurate right now, the potential for improvement has teachers saying they need to consider what to discuss to use it as a classroom tool instead of trying to ban it.

“The conversation should also include about the possibilities. It brings to the classroom how it could help students learn better and how it could be incorporated in the pedagogy we have,” said Dr. Bukralia.

“It’s like not being able to use google in my in my understanding because at the end of the day, we’re all trying to get information,” said Gezahegne.

MSU-Mankato has not implemented a ban on ChatGPT but says using the AI for cheating falls under academic dishonesty and plagarism policies.

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