GPT-3, released by OpenAI in November, swiftly undermined the integrity of many a student’s academic work. Professors across disciplines have had to contend with how to discern machine vs. human-generated work.

Now, with a new school year underway, that challenge remains. Due to ChatGPT’s popularity, many schools are seeking ways to integrate the technology into their learning environments. But the question of how to do this remains murky. Bloomberg reports,

But professors and administrators seeking to integrate generative AI into their curriculums are left with a big question: How? They need to find the right middle ground, said Steve Weber, vice provost of undergraduate curriculum and education at Drexel University. Educators can’t completely prohibit use of the tool and neglect to teach it, but they also can’t allow its use with no constraints, he said.

ChatGPT-Wary Universities Scramble to Prepare for New School Year (msn.com)

Others are worried that ChatGPT will detract from a “love of learning” and “critical thinking,” according to Bloomberg. The new AI tool has cast a wrench in plagiarism detection and poses even philosophical questions about what education should be for. According to college professor Jeffrey Bilbro, eliminating the discipline and struggle required to think and write well will handicap students in the long run. He writes,

If these digital technologies operate in the gray zone between frustrating and productive struggle, LLMs promise to eliminate those aspects of a writer’s struggle where effort is most productive. ChatGPT’s offer to summarize a book tempts me to forgo the slow work of wrestling with a difficult text, work that enables deep understanding rather than superficial familiarity.

-Jeffrey Bilbro, What Problem Does ChatGPT Solve? by Jeffrey Bilbro (plough.com)