This article is one of the winning submissions from the first annual New York Post Scholars Contest, presented by Command Education.
While working hard on an essay due the next day for my AP Language and Composition class, a conversation a few seats away caught my attention.
“I didn’t even start my essay, I’ll probably use ChatGPT.”
ChatGPT, the “future of artificial intelligence.” After hearing about ChatGPT for quite some time, I decided to use ChatGPT but it was more for entertainment and curiosity reasons, never for the sole purpose of cheating and plagiarizing for an assignment.
Using ChatGPT was extremely simple. Once opening the ChatGPT program on the website, you open a new “conversation,” and now can type whatever prompt, question or statement you desire, and artificial intelligence will respond to you.
The technology was astonishing to me. I typed in a simple prompt at first: “Give me information about the Industrial Revolution.” ChatGPT gave me a long paragraph filled with information.
Okay, maybe ChatGPT is a better and easier-to-use Google. Then, I decided to type in a more intricate prompt: “Write a 500-word essay about the South Korean education system.” My essay prompt, the essay that I have been working on for the past three hours, has been written right in front of my eyes by artificial intelligence in less than a total of five minutes.
I realized that ChatGPT has lots of potential to be beneficial for education, but as everything good has equally something bad, ChatGPT could also be harmful to the education system.
ChatGPT has helped me study history ever since I knew about it. All I needed to do was type in a topic that I was less knowledgeable about in ChatGPT, and artificial intelligence would give me all the information I need in an easily readable format.
When it comes to studying, ChatGPT is better than Google. Although the sources of the information may be unknown, it is definitely easier, faster, and more efficient to search for information. Instead of having to search for information and opening each link that Google recommends, ChatGPT compiles all that information into an easily readable format.
Again, ChatGPT is the best cheating, plagiarizing tool ever invented. Any assignment could be done through ChatGPT. Even intricate open-ended questions that had to be answered with actual thought can now be answered with ease through ChatGPT, same with essays if requested with a clear prompt.
It is obvious that this artificial intelligence technology is both a threat and innovation to the education system.
Luckily, Edward Tian, a 22-year-old from Princeton University is working to rid the threat of ChatGPT in the education system.
Over his holiday break from Princeton University, he worked to create an app named “GPTZero.” According to Tian, “it checks whether there’s zero involvement or a lot of involvement of the AI system in creating a given text.”
Personally as a student, I have very mixed feelings about ChatGPT. While I benefit from this technology by working less on homework and studying more efficiently, it feels wrong.
Although there is nothing wrong with using ChatGPT to search for notes and information, it still feels like cheating as I am only one sentence away from plagiarizing an entire assignment.
With easy access to ChatGPT, I feel as if cheating, or at least the thoughts of cheating are inevitable. After hearing my peers say that they are going to plagiarize an essay, my initial reaction wasn’t to stop them or to stay away from ChatGPT. Instead, my reaction was closer to being dumbstruck. Why did I just spend three hours on an essay that he will spend three minutes on and get a similar grade?
Upon my experience, I strongly believe that GPTZero or AI detectors should be implemented in all school computers, websites, and softwares that collect documents for school assignments.
Cheating and plagiarizing is too easy with ChatGPT, and even academically honest students can be tempted due to the high feasibility of cheating.
I asked a few people around my school about their thoughts on ChatGPT and the results were similar to my mixed feelings.
“It really does feel like cheating when I use it [ChatGPT].”
“I like using ChatGPT to study but I definitely see how people could exploit it.”
“Plagiarizing is really easy with ChatGPT because you don’t know the source of the information.”
The quotes above were responses by three different students when asked about their opinions on ChatGPT.
Again, I strongly recommend schools and educational institutions to implement AI detecting technology such as GPTZero. It is too easy for students to cheat and even those with academic integrity have the thoughts of plagiarizing and cheating.
An 11th-grader at Northern Valley Regional High School in Demarest, NJ, Park would like to be a creative director at a major hospitality group.