[Photo credit to mohamed_hassan]

ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence software that gives human-like answers to what users ask, has been accused of being used as a method of cheating in schools in the last few weeks.

ChatGPT is an AI-powered language model created by a company named OpenAI that can generate human-like text-based answers on the input it receives.  

It was launched on November 30, 2022.

This feature makes it likely for many students who want to use it to generate answers for exams or assignments in a matter of seconds.

Currently, one of the best AI, ChatGPT, was first designed to have a conversation like an actual human with another person.

However, its intelligence and the variety of answers it can give, ranging from simple mathematic responses to logical essays and even poems, have been a leading cause of its problem in an educational aspect.

The problem arises from the level of writing that the chatbot can produce. 

According to Forbes News, the chatbot can write an essay that can get a B or B- grade on an Ivy League MBA level exam.

Around 89% of students have already admitted that they have used ChatGPT as a way to complete homework or writing an essay in America.

The serious problem is that this way of cheating using the chatbot is hard to detect or prevent, as students can now access the AI without having to be in school.

It is different from the methods of cheating until now, where you had to be in school to do it. 

An example of this is looking at answers during tests.

There have been actions trying to detect whether ChatGPT has been used in a student’s work. 

The traditional plagiarism checking does not work for it as the AI is creating a new text from the information on the internet. 

An approach was to create software that would analyze and detect different word combinations of paragraph structures that ChatGPT typically uses.

However, this approach doesn’t always work as the AI is becoming “smarter” by being fed with more data, and its sentence structures are becoming more and more advanced and natural.

Although most educational experts are taking measures to prevent the use of cheating with ChatGPT, there has been some professors who allowed the use of the chatbot.

Mollick, a Wharton university professor, has adopted AI into his education,  even going as far as using the chatbot as mandatory.

The reason behind his decision was that he came to the conclusion that the students would somehow find a way to use the chatbot even if he told them that they weren’t allowed.

So rather than stopping the students from using the AI, he allowed the students to use it as a tool to help them in their educational path.

Even though there are some anomalies, such as the example of Professor Mollick, most teachers and professors in the educational industry oppose to the use of ChatGPT as a method of education.

Using ChatGPT as a tool for cheating is unethical and goes against the principles of academic honesty; therefore, many argue that it is not an appropriate way to approach education.