Source: https://chat.openai.com
With barely a year since the public’s first access to ChatGPT, it already seems clear that the world will be changed thanks to this technology. Unlike most new technologies, artificial intelligence (AI) already has a strong cultural presence which has led some people to become misinformed, and thus overly fearful of it and/or dismissive of its importance.
This denialism can be dangerous, as it is likely that within five to ten years, knowing how to use generative AI tools will be just as important of an employee asset as knowing Adobe or Microsoft products is today. With this in mind, let us explore what this means for college curriculums and schools in general moving forward.
Put simply, ChatGPT is a program that will generate text based on a prompt given to it by a user. It can be told to write a book report, or a recipe, or be asked for ideas on how to renovate a room.
It is best to think of language models like this as brainstorming partners or assistants. It can be asked for ideas and advice, but it still must be validated and cannot be relied upon for accurate information. According to Natalie Diienno, a professor of photography here at DSC, “It’s like asking the person you would want to ask that smarter than you about it.”
It is also important to remember that AI is not (yet) another person and should not be thought of as one. It is a computer program and can only be as useful as the directions given to it. These directions are called prompts and the skill necessary in their creation will be a defining aspect of someone’s ability to use AI.
A scientific calculator is only so useful if you simply know how to use the four basic functions, and Photoshop is only so useful if you just know the crop tool. As the saying goes, “your job won’t be taken by AI, it will be taken by someone who knows how to use AI.”
Whether it be for writing a diplomatic email, or rearranging the layout of a curriculum, AI models like ChatGPT are already being used in the professional and academic fields by those who want to get ahead. As stated above, AI is best thought of as a brainstorming partner, a smarter friend you can bounce ideas off of, not something you want doing the work for you.
The most effective uses for AI involve asking it for inspiration, not to actually do the work. This is because as more and more people use ChatGPT directly for emails or assignments, there will arise a formulaic sense of sameness among such work, making distinction through uniqueness and style even more important than it is today.
During an interview with Professor Lee Keynon, he explained that in the past, if a student needed to find a research paper as a reference, they might spend hours in a library reading through old papers and eventually find one or two that could be used to support their argument. Then along came the search engine; a tool that could be used to browse hundreds of articles and papers to find the most recent and applicable evidence to back up their point.
The result of this was a fundamental change in how classwork is done; from an emphasis on research and the ability back up one’s argument, to an emphasis on critical thinking and the ability to evaluate conflicting sources and extrapolate the useful information.
We are facing a similar transition with the advent of AI. “The way we evaluate work will need to change” according to Professor Kenyon “Basically formulating some initial thoughts, there’s not going to be much points for that anymore because our artificial assistant could help us with that.”
Professor Keynon’s prediction is that the focus of education will shift from basic questions of why orhow, to validating or disproving, with a higher emphasis being placed once again on critical thinking. When we can get any answer from AI, we will need to learn how to make sure that answer is true.
This implies, just as the advent of the search engine did, that questioning and analysis in the age of information is becoming a bigger and bigger priority.
On a similar note, Cristi Brazao, an English professor at DSC states that AI “is a tool that is definitely going to impact our futures.” Also mentioning how important it is to learn how to use AI in a safe learning environment, “I want to make sure students have that experience in a learning environment to where they know how to use it in a safe way.”
She makes valid points on how we cannot do as much with AI as we can our own brains. “AI cannot think critically, that is something that you do sitting with others and reading and analyzing work.”
With how fast artificial intelligence seems to be advancing, it is important to discern fact from fiction. We are not staring down the barrel of SkyNet, or the Hall9000, or any other fictional depiction of this technology. These depictions were created out of fear of the computer and with little regard to the facts of AI.
It is finally time to learn what those facts will be, to learn what AI will really be used for when it is applied to the real world. Like the search engine and Photoshop two decades ago, generative AI is the next step in the digital age, humanity’s latest attempt to outsource our work to machines.
