Cheat GPT
Sequoia staff express concern over language models in classrooms
Photo by Thomas Jett and Adam Trinklein BY ADAM TRINKLEIN & THOMAS JETT Staff Reporters The end of homework, the end of internet search, the beginning of a new era, artificial intelligence is sending ripples, waves, and tsunamis through every sector. New AI language model Chat GPT has been all the buzz in the last few months since its inception. This language model was developed by Open AI and launched in November of 2022. It had already amassed a million users shocked and wowed by the capabilities of a novel chat bot in the span of just five days. It can create jokes, give advice, answer questions, write essays, imitate styles of speech, and much more. Chat GPT has allowed for some of the most convincing text generation of any large language model to date. Concern about the capabilities of this AI have swept far and wide. “The College Essay is Dead,” wrote Stephen Marche from The Atlantic. Google reportedly issued a “code red” alert within the company over Chat GPT’s capability to upend search engines; after all, who would choose to sift through links and ads for information, when they could get it directly and concisely from a chat bot? At Sequoia High School, Chat GPT has had an impact already. Thirty-two out of seventysix students surveyed in a recent poll had heard of Chat GPT. Three of those students admitted to using it to cheat on school assignments. Chat GPT’s launch has already rippled out to Sequoia’s English teachers. “I’ve watched a student sign in to an account and looked at how it worked, and it can generate an essay very quickly, and it is alarming, ” IB English teacher Ms. Rutigliano said. Anxiety about using Chat GPT to cheat on school work is running high, while new
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technology like phones have always been get students, but it can’t be expected to write an issue for teachers, trying to automate with depth. creativity is new. “I think that if you use it correctly, it can “My biggest concern as a teacher is always make your writing better. It’s not a high depth just how to get my students to learn as much analysis of whatever you’re writing about, but as possible and how to get them to think it’s a good foundation.” sophomore Cade critically. In order to do that, they need to do Miller said. their own thinking” IB English teacher Emily DeVoe also points out that like other DeVoe said. methods of cheating, Chat GPT is only getting The anxiety about the model is lowered in the way of students actually learning. by a closer look “It’s very easy to at Chat GPT, and follow these shiny how the language sparkly shortcuts My biggest concern as a teacher is models output is less that aren’t actually always how to get my students to impressive than it helpful. I’ve seen first seems. Because this with summaries learn as much as possible and how it can’t actually form of texts that we to get them to think critically. In its own opinion or read in class, which order to do that, they need to do cite a source, its seems like it’s a their own thinking products can’t satisfy shortcut at the time Emily Devoe, IB English Teacher the expectations of but it’s just surface teachers. level regurgitation” “I was terrified, DeVoe said. I gave it an IB prompt and in about three It’s hard to estimate the future impact of seconds, it generated a five paragraph essay Chat GPT on student writing, but right now that outwardly didn’t have any issues, but it isn’t as threatening as it first seems. The then I looked at it and all the quotes were limits of the application mean that a forward fabricated.” DeVoe said thinking school shouldn’t need to be worried Most people who have played with the about it more than other issues like plagiarism. language model come to the same conclusion “There are so many other resources that about its limited abilities. Because of the AI’s are already used for cheating, that the addition lack of opinion and personality, the average of one extra seems not very relevant,” a person, or an application like GPT zero, can sophomore said. see through writing by the AI. It’s up to students to choose to be honest “Essays written by chat GPT are basic level and not use the tools available to them for stuff, if someone actually uses chat GPT by cheating. While Chat GPT doesn’t seem like itself and turns it in, it’s not going to be a good an issue in its current form, it is an extension essay and is easy to detect.” Sophomore Cade of the issue that is cheating for schools. Miller said. “If you’re going to cheat, we’re at that There are potentially good uses for AI moral part where cheating is cheating and still, it can be used to accelerate writing or that’s up to the person,” a sophomore said.
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