What are the concerns?

With an ability to generate realistic responses within seconds, from writing computer code to writing a news article about itself,[1] there are growing concerns amongst staff that students may be using the website to write their work for them. A concern only strengthened after ‘two new surveys of teachers have revealed how an increasing number of students are already using OpenAI’s AI chatbot ChatGPT to cheat in tests and complete their homework assignments.’[2]

• Reliance on AI systems
  Consistently relying on an AI system may discourage independent thought, critical thinking, creativity, and problem solving,
• Prep/Homework
  Using a programme such as ChatGPT for prep/homework, could prevent the opportunity for learning and growth of skill that independent study provides.
• Bias and inaccuracies
  This technology is not a perfect science. Answers that it provides can be incorrect, inflammatory or provide incorrect statistics. The Open AI website states: “ChatGPT may occasionally generate incorrect information…produce harmful instructions or biased content” and has “limited knowledge of world and events after 2021.”

• Ethical concerns
  Some teachers have argued that using a system such as this is no different to copying other pupils work as it has not been completed by the pupil themselves.

• Authentic tone
  Any student will develop a writing style over time. If an artificially intelligent chat bot is writing a piece of work, the student’s authentic style and tone will not develop. 

• Prevents development of traditional research skills
  Traditional research skills could be stunted by the continual use of this programme. As mentioned above, AI is not a perfect science and research provided by ChatGPT may be outdated or disproven.  Students must be encouraged to use multiple sources when researching any topic.

• Limited understanding
  While every student wants to do well, if a student has limited understanding of a topic but has had assistance from Chat GPT, a teacher may not pick up on the knowledge gap.

Benefits
While there are growing concerns around this website, we should not discount its benefits. It can be a great way of generating tools for completing academic work, for example providing an essay structure or offering feedback on writing. It is also a great, easy way to generate new ideas.

What can you do?
As a parent, we advise working with your child to ensure they get the benefits that ChatGPT offers whilst making sure they are aware of the potential risks.  Our job is to help them to become responsible digital citizens, and blocking new technologies such as ChatGPT isn’t the way forward.  However, it might be that you think they are too young/immature to be allowed access to ChatGPT yet in which case there are various options for blocking it.

Here are two simple examples to get you started:

If your child is using Google Chrome, you can use an app called ‘Google Family Link’. This allows you to manually block websites and have more control about what your child is accessing online.

Step-by-step | Google Chrome
Open up the Google Family Link App
Select your child and then tap ‘manage settings’
Next, click ‘google chrome’.
Choose the setting that is right for you and your family. You can:
– allow all sites except for ones you have blocked
– Try to block explicit sites (this automatically tries to filter out sexually explicit or violent websites but there is no guarantee)
– Only allow approved websites (your child can only access websites that you approve)
Click ‘manage sites’ to allow or block websites.

Step-by-step | Apple Screen Time
This will work on all apple devices that are ios12 compatible (a more recently updated ios version)
Open your child’s ios device
Open settings
Find ‘screen time’ and select it.
Then scroll to ‘content and privacy restrictions’
Tap ‘content restrictions
Find ‘web content’ and click onto this option. You can then limit websites or only allow websites you manually enter.

[1] https://news.sky.com/story/chatgpt-we-let-an-ai-chatbot-help-write-an-article-heres-how-it-went-12763244

[2] https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/chatgpt-cheating-students-openai-chatbot-b2278850.html