What threats does ChatGPT pose to our academia? | The Daily Star
The OpenAI's Generative Pre-trained Transformer 3 (GPT-3) technology, including ChatGPT, has brought a revolution in the field of Artificial Intelligence with its advanced language processing capabilities. However, its widespread availability and accessibility bring both benefits and risks to the world of academia.
Potential for Misuse
One of the significant risks that the ChatGPT technology poses to our academia is its potential for misuse. Students may use this technology to complete their assignments without understanding the concepts, which can lead to a dependency on technology, resulting in a lack of critical thinking and problem-solving skills. It is essential to develop these skills, which are crucial for success in both education and career paths.
Furthermore, another way in which ChatGPT can be misused is by students using it to plagiarize their assignments. The advanced language processing capabilities of the technology make it possible to generate high-quality text, which is tempting for students to copy and paste into their own work. Plagiarism is a serious offense and can lead to academic dishonesty charges, impacting a student's future prospects.
Researchers can also misuse the ChatGPT technology by using it to manipulate or fabricate data, compromising the integrity of research. This can have significant consequences for both the research community and the individual researcher.
Perpetuating Biases and Stereotypes
Moreover, ChatGPT has the potential to perpetuate biases and harmful stereotypes. The technology is trained on a large amount of text data, which can include both explicit and implicit biases. If these biases are not addressed, they can be amplified and perpetuated through the technology's outputs, leading to serious consequences for marginalized groups and undermining the efforts to address societal inequalities.
Ethical and Responsible Usage
To minimize the risks and maximize the benefits of ChatGPT technology, ethical and responsible usage of these tools must be integrated into the education system's curriculum. Strict ethical standards must be adopted for the research community, addressing biases, harmful outcomes, and the potential for malicious use. Teachers must provide students with clear guidelines on AI-based text creation, critically evaluating them and avoiding conflicts with independent thinking and problem-solving skills.
In addition, universities and educational institutions must adopt new technology usage ethics into their curricula, with violations dealt with justified penalties. The UGC can create a dedicated national consortium body with subject matter experts from all fields of education. This body can ensure that none of the undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate research topics is partially duplicated and mirrored at the national level. The body can also monitor and nurture the quality of Bangladeshi thesis, journals, and research papers.
Conclusion
In conclusion, while the ChatGPT technology has great potential to improve students' writing and communication skills, it must be used as a tool to support learning rather than a replacement for it. It is essential to monitor ChatGPT's influence on learning and research, address research biases and other harmful aspects of the technology's outputs. With proper steps and actions taken, the research and innovation qualities of Bangladeshi students and researchers can be maintained or improved.
