School: how ChatGPT is ruining the atmosphere in class

© Pexels/Pavel Danilyuk

The arrival of ChatGPT is giving a cold sweat to teachers who are convinced (sometimes rightly) that their students will cheat by using this AI as part of their homework. A new study conducted by the Center for Democracy and Technology, a think tank, highlights this phenomenon in the United States.

Thus, half of the teachers questioned in this survey know at least one student of their school that was sanctioned or suffered negative consequences after using (or being accused of using) ChatGPT to complete class work.

A climate of suspicion reigns at the school

Overall, the arrival of this AI seems to generate tensions, since 90% of teachers say they are more suspicious of children than in the past, and many suspect them of using these new language models to cheat.

However, if 58% of students admitted to having used ChatGPT during the year 2022-2023, it is not necessarily for educational purposes. In fact, only 23% say they have used this AI in their courses. But 29% have done so to address anxiety and mental health problems. 22% to deal with problems with friends, and 16% to deal with family conflicts.

However, experts believe that this deleterious atmosphere which can sometimes appear in class because of ChatGPT could largely be avoided. For example, only 40% of parents surveyed say they have received advice for themselves or their children regarding the appropriate use of these tools.

As for teachers, only 24% of them say they have received training on how to interact with students suspected of cheating. Faced with the sudden emergence of these new technologies, we can therefore see a real lack of pedagogy. And this is precisely what UNESCO recently highlighted in a report on AI.

For its part, OpenAI, the publisher of ChatGPT, has published a guide for teachers who use its language model. The company notably mentions an Indian professor who“advises students to remember that the answers given by ChatGPT may not be credible and accurate at all times, and to think critically about whether they should trust the answer, then confirm the information via other primary resources.”

In any case, the use of ChatGPT appears to be massive in schools . We also witnessed a slight decline in the platform's audience which coincided with the school holidays.

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