Should ChatGPT be banned in Schools?

Should ChatGPT be banned in schools? - Wonjung Jeon (7th Grade, Fay School)

Recently, research by Forbes has shown that only half of high school students believe that using ChatGPT on assignments is cheating. The research also showed that many people think students should utilize ChatGPT, claiming that it helps not only students but teachers too. However, in my opinion, ChatGPT should be banned in schools since students can use it to cheat, and also because it may give wrong information to people.

Firstly, ChatGPT should be banned because there is a high chance of it being used to cheat. Students can use ChatGPT to write their entire paper or solve their homework, exactly copy what it told them and submit that to their teachers. It is bad if students cheat like this because they won’t learn about what they’re studying, and won’t be able to do these things by themselves. For example, according to Futurism, more than 88 percent of students admitted to using ChatGPT for important homework assignments or tests. Also, USA Today stated that at least 1 in 4 students have used ChatGPT in their assignments. This proves that students are likely to use ChatGPT to cheat and based on this evidence, it should be banned because it will be used for cheating.

Secondly, ChatGPT should be banned because it can give incorrect information to students. Unlike humans, AIs have a limited ability to deeply understand questions, so they are more likely to provide incorrect information. For example, according to Datanami, the error rate for ChatGPT is at least 30 percent, which is a surprisingly high percentage. Also, chatbots like ChatGPT can have a wide range of biases, depending on the data sets the AIs systems are trained on. For example, ChatGPT might use language in a way that reinforces gender or other stereotypes, or it may provide wrong information about topics that are controversial, if those thoughts are in the data it was fed. As evidence, Microsoft’s Tay chatbot was used to interact with people on social media, such as Twitter. It was designed to learn from conversations with real people and become smarter overtime. However, a few weeks after its release, it was taken offline because it began making offensive and controversial statements. Thus, ChatGPT should be banned because it can give incorrect information to people.

In spite of these reasons, some people argue that ChatGPT should not be banned in schools. One common claim is that using ChatGPT on assignments isn’t really cheating. However, tests and homework are used as a method of testing students’ skills to see how much they have learned. If a student uses ChatGPT in order to finish an exam or an assignment, they wouldn’t be using their own skills. This is faking one’s talent, which is the essence of cheating. Another erroneous argument is that even though ChatGPT may hand out wrong information, using it would make teachers jobs easier and give them more free time. However, although it may be true that Chat GPT can give more free time to teachers, having free time doesn’t mean that teachers would be happier. According to the LA school report, more than 90 percent of teachers are very satisfied with their jobs, and more than 55 percent of the teachers stated that they feel uneasy when they have free time during work hours. Thus, people can argue that ChatGPT may free up more time for teachers, but it is wrong to say that it would make them happier or their jobs better. Additionally, if the information given by the chatbot is wrong, teachers will have to spend more time researching to make sure they aren’t giving students incorrect information. As this explanation proves, the claims that using ChatGPT isn’t cheating and that it makes teachers jobs easier are wrong.

In conclusion, the high chances of it being used to cheat and it giving incorrect information to students are just some of the reasons why ChatGPT should be banned from all educational centers and there are numerous more. ChatGPT only makes the world of education worse, so we should definitely ban it for a brighter future.