Santa Monica College (SMC) is no exception to the spread of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as it becomes more accessible to the public.
Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer (ChatGPT) is one of these new advancements. It was introduced by OpenAI, an American-based research institute. ChatGPT, amongst other AI chatbots, allows for prompts and questions to be answered entirely by AI using their free version.
Professors at SMC are split on the use of AI large language models like ChatGPT in classrooms. Many professors have strict policies against using AI, while others use it themselves to create assignments.
Professor Tania Maync teaches U.S. history at SMC, although her specialty focus is European history. Maync is one of the former professors who has a strict policy in her class against using AI.
Maync’s syllabus includes an AI and plagiarism policy that states that AI is not truly intelligent and cannot analyze the way people can.
“But also, as an educator, I see a lot of ways in which [AI] can be used to subvert the main thing that I see as my job,” said Maync. “Which is to teach people to think for themselves.”
Maync wants her students to engage with and internalize the material instead of having AI do all the work. Although she acknowledged that it can be used ethically, she does not like how it guides students away from critical thinking and engagement.
Professor Lynn Dickinson is a Media and Journalism professor at SMC and the author of “The Writetress.” In addition, Dickinson is also the faculty advisor for the AI club.
Dickinson is one of the latter professors who encourage the use of AI as a tool that can be utilized to lessen the workload for professors. She also said that AI can create assignments that won’t have a coherent answer from chatbots.
“Right now, we’re in an awkward space where [AI is] just starting,” Dickinson said. “But I think education will be transformed into something more individual.”
One of the most debated topics concerning AI in academia is academic dishonesty. Programs like TurnItIn help detect plagiarism and AI use, but professors catch a lot of its misuse just by reading assignments.
Both professors spoke on the misuse of AI and how it is currently being used to get by easily. While Maync remains more skeptical of it, Dickinson is hopeful of its turn in the future.
According to a study by The Journal of Infection in Developing Countries (JIDC), ChatGPT consistently pumped out seemingly accurate responses and essays.
However, upon closer examination, it was found that the sources used by AI were inaccessible. Most of the references cited by ChatGPT were completely fake, generated by the chatbot to seem real. This tactic allowed the chatbots to pass plagiarism checks with flying colors despite the inaccuracy.
Due to this, the study concluded that ChatGPT should not be used in scientific or research writing. This survey showed the easy misuse of AI and how it can spread misinformation unintentionally.
Both Maync and Dickinson said that regulation around the emergence of chatbots is lacking, but they are sure it will evolve.
Dogac Agirtici, a computer science major at SMC, is the founder and president of the college’s AI Club.
“Instead of avoiding it, canceling it, or banning it, we should just ask how we can adapt it,” said Agirtici.
As new accessible forms of AI emerge and update, AI will continue to be a hot topic in academia. While the debate on the academic use of AI is ongoing, one thing is clear: it is already being used, leaving students and professors to wonder how and when it will be regulated and handled going forward.