Uproar with teacher who cut off students using ChatGPT to control them!
ChatGPT decided whether to use…ChatGPT
In a controversial move that sparked backlash, a Texas A&M University professor fired 15 students, accusing them of submitting assignments created by artificial intelligence (AI). However, the professor’s approach to figure out if the papers were indeed written by AI or not… ended the irony counters.
Specifically, the professor, whose identity has not been disclosed, gave the students in question insufficient grades and suspended their diplomas pending a thorough investigation. The professor made this tough decision after he used ChatGPT , the well-known artificial intelligence tool, to tell him if there were signs of automated content generation in the assignments. Yes, ChatGPT decided if it was used…ChatGPT! Obviously, this method was criticized as inappropriate and wrong.
The ChatGPT that the professor used to detect AI-generated content is not designed for this purpose. It is an AI chatbot that has the ability to produce human-like text, always according to the user’s instructions, but it cannot accurately distinguish whether other content is produced by AI. The professor’s unconventional choice to detect plagiarism has even become a topic of discussion on social media, with screenshots of an email sent to the punished students circulating on Reddit.
AI chatbots, including ChatGPT, can often produce results that do not correspond to reality, even concocting elaborate details with great confidence. This phenomenon is known as “hallucinations”. Obviously, then, they are not suitable for validating the authenticity of academic papers.
Amid the controversy, the university initially exonerated the students, although the ongoing investigation revealed that at least two of them did indeed use ChatGPT during the semester. But the professor’s behavior has also come under scrutiny following this incident, potentially jeopardizing his position at the university.
The incident serves as a reminder that while AI tools like ChatGPT can be of great help, their use in academia requires great care.
