In recent weeks, schools and universities around the world have begun to ban their students from using the ChatGPT platform, considering it “cheating” when doing work or research. Universities such as Seville, Sciences Po (Paris Institute of Political Studies), the University of Queensland, the RV University of Bangalore and the network of public schools in New York, Los Angeles, Seattle and Maryland are blocking the platform so that cannot be accessed from your premises from your internet network.
Obviously, these restrictions did not solve the problem, they only make it a bit more difficult for students to access ChatGPT, but they continue to access from their mobile, with their own data, or if not, there are more similar tools that they already have access to and do not have. restriction.
Academic institutions have to discuss this issue and make decisions as soon as possible.
According to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, “Artificial intelligence is probably the most important technology happening in the world right now. It is important that we are all familiar with it, including people who do not work in technology.”
From my perspective, universities should have a vision and an active role in terms of artificial intelligence; so that instead of prohibiting it, they promote it for its productive use, in a guided manner and with a clear and specific purpose.
Several years ago, when the Internet began to be used, this same discussion was held and these same prohibitions were brought to the students. Universities did not want them to use the Internet for work or research, because they saw it as cheating as well. Today, many years later, we are living a very different reality, where we could not imagine a research work without using digital sources of information.
Today there is a growing need for universities to teach students about artificial intelligence, since this technology is transforming the world we live in, and young people are already using these tools every day and among them they find new uses or applications that they are developing a much broader vision than what is offered in the methods accepted by the academy.
where to start
In the last few weeks, I took the afternoon to ask some teachers of different academic levels, what was their opinion about the AI used by their students, and to my surprise I was faced with two different answers. The professors who work in the discipline they teach (not only teach) mostly believed that students should use these tools in conjunction with teachers; Some were even interested in learning more about the subject. On the other hand, teachers who only teach classes consider that these tools take away their authority and complicate their lives because they do not know for sure if the student used AI or not. These professors agreed to prohibit access and very few were interested in learning more about the subject.
In order for universities to incorporate artificial intelligence into their programs, they first have to use and understand it, and that is the most complicated thing here, because many professors do not have the knowledge or vision to know what to do with this technology, therefore the managers neither.
This process has to start at the top; Directors, coordinators and those who lead academic programs today have the challenge of starting to use AI tools in their own work. Only then can they understand how to download it to the programs they teach.
Regardless of the subject or discipline, at all levels you can use some AI tool, even in the basic ones.
We have to start from the fact that students, especially in middle and higher levels, are already using these tools, on the one hand because they are in fashion and on the other hand because they are finding a practical use for them in their lives. So academic institutions will have to decide whether to proactively take advantage of this technology starting today or sit back and watch it progress until they have no choice but to use it.
Knowledge that is not shared loses its value completely.
