by Michael A. Fitts
ChatGPT and its artificial intelligence may be one of the best things to happen to universities in a long time. It’s important to remember amid all the talk (I’ve done my part) in higher education circles about essay writing and academic rigor in light of this marvel of AI.
ChatGPT in academics is a complex issue. It’s not your parents’ Google, and education leaders need to carefully consider the intersections between the age-old mission of teaching and learning and this new technology.
The first intersection is speed. Google made it possible to find an answer in a few clicks. ChatGPT further speeds this up by not only finding an answer, but also presenting that answer in a finished product.
AI can give creative minds more time to solve problems
If ChatGPT eliminates rote work, freeing academic minds to pursue new possibilities and devote their time and energy to solving new problems, it could multiply academic potential and lead to more breakthroughs faster. In areas such as biomedical research, the result could save lives.
However, speed could come at the expense of comprehensive understanding. Think GPS. Enter a colon in your phone and you won’t be lost. It’s easy and efficient. Relying on paper maps, personal familiarity, and trial and error to get from one point to another is not. But the latter gives us a richer and deeper understanding of our local geography and how streets, neighborhoods and cities fit together. Siri does not.
The same goes for ChatGPT and the learning process. When we start looking for an answer, we cannot be sure we understand the question. When we rely on powerful computers to scrape through an incredibly vast universe of data and draw conclusions, we may miss the opportunity to understand critical connections or discover something new.
Disinformation created by AI:ChatGPT invented research claiming that guns are not harmful to children. How far are we going to let AI go?
Can OpenAI be trusted? :ChatGPT falsely accused me of sexually harassing my students
Another view:John Oliver is wrong to worry about ChatGPT. AI can help us solve complex problems.
The discovery process helps to gain knowledge about what is relevant and what is not, how things fit together, how one event leads to another, and the myriad interconnections.
ChatGPT will not replace the need for good judgment and critical thinking
Another intersection between higher education and ChatGPT involves critical thinking and tech literacy. ChatGPT does not replace discernment, judgment and critical thinking. The answers and materials provided by ChatGPT may contain bias, lack context, or be downright false – not to mention the questions they raise about privacy, morality, and intellectual property.
But the flip side is that ChatGPT provides an opportunity to help students understand how AI systems work, how to question easy answers, identify biases, examine dubious claims, apply logic, and train critical arguments.
Ivy League is not all:Here’s what we’re wrong about getting a good education.
A shooting happened next to my class:How do you teach after such gun violence?
Finally, ChatGPT can help revitalize the importance of creativity in higher education. Sure, ChatGPT can write a good article, but it can’t write a good one because it can’t tap into human emotions or tell a personal story.
He can take inspiration from every work ever created, but he can’t create something completely original. He can find an answer, but he can’t be the first to ask the question.
Progress requires iconoclasts, creatives and pioneers. It requires a willingness to take risks, to be bold and to risk failure. We must embrace creativity and humanity and not simply repeat and recycle organized information and ideas.
So, while ChatGPT is excellent at finding answers, how best to integrate this quantum technological leap into the mission of higher education is a question whose answer will require the kind of originality, audacity and flightiness of imagination that, at least for now, only humans possess.
Michael A. Fitts is president of Tulane University in New Orleans.
