| | DECEMBER - JANUARY 8IN MY OPINION This morning, I read yet another article about ChatGPT. This one, appearing in The Chronicle of Higher Education, begins with the headline, `GPT-4 Can Already Pass Freshman Year at Harvard.' The writer of the piece admits that she was at first a proponent of embracing ChatGPT but now feels that university educators must do all they can to prevent its use. To that, I say, 'Good luck.'In case you've been on an island for the past 8 or 9 months and aren't familiar with ChatGPT, GPT-4, or Bard (Google's version of ChatGPT), these are what are called large language models (LLMs) capable of creating original text based on synthesized content found on the Internet. Plagiarism detectors are not capable of reliably detecting text created by LLMs. You can see the problem for Higher Ed immediately, I'm sure.Since ChatGPT burst on the scene last fall, the list of similar tools has proliferated for students and teachers alike. In addition to generating entire essays, students can use AI to summarize research and help paraphrase text. Instructors can ask AI tools to craft lesson plans and develop presentations. And while there are AI tools out there that can provide answers to students on virtually any subject, the one that's gotten all the press and the one Higher Ed seems most worried about is ChatGPT. The panicked reaction is understandable. As the writer of the Chronicle article points out, just about any take-home writing assignment can now be completed entirely by ChatGPT WHY HIGHER EDUCATION SHOULD FULLY EMBRACE CHATGPTBy Carolyn Stoll, Director of Online Instruction, University of CincinnatiCarolyn Stoll
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