6 September 14 - 20, 2023 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents UNT, said the university hasn’t issued a blanket ChatGPT ban. Each college and its departments can make decisions on how to proceed according to what’s best for them. Professors can specify in their syllabi whether students are allowed to consult the AI during the course. Thompson cited two examples of how academics are responding to ChatGPT. One professor at another school asked stu- dents to use AI to help pen bios of histori- cal figures before presenting them to the class. On the other end of the spectrum, some faculty are turning back the clock, such as by giving tests on paper. “They think that will stop all cheating,” Thompson said. “I think students are creative. Students will find ways if that’s what they want to do, no mat- ter what.” All the chatter surrounding ChatGPT re- minds Thompson of when Google first touched down. The fear on campus was pal- pable. Some worried that if a student could consult a search engine for answers, it might make learning in a classroom setting pretty much pointless. Things are different today. “Now, nobody talks about using Google; it’s just what we do,” Thompson said. She thinks the same could likely happen when it comes to ChatGPT: “A year from now, we’ll be talking about something else.” T he ancient Greek god Zeus forbade humans to access fire. He wanted his creations to depend on the gods for warmth and sustenance. Left to fend for themselves in the cold, humans were ren- dered weak, but the Titan Prometheus couldn’t stand to see them that way. So, he stole the divine fire and brought it to Earth. Fire helped spark the birth of civiliza- tions, according to the Greek legend. Hu- mans became self-reliant and could chop wood for lodging and build ships to travel the world. Armed with this powerful tool, they wielded fire to help humankind evolve — but also to kill their fellow man. They could now forge weapons, raze enemy vil- lages and incite wars. Prometheus the fire-bearer came to rep- resent progress and knowledge in lore. Today, artificial intelligence is the flame. Lubbock educator David Ring equates the ChatGPT dilemma to calculators in the ‘90s. Few would have guessed that someday, smartphones would become nearly ubiqui- tous; now, everyone carries a calculator with them at all times. “Looking at AI, the question is: Is this go- ing to be a technology that in 20 years, hu- manity is just intertwined — we don’t even think about it as novel anymore?” he said. “Kind of like we don’t think about having a supercomputer in our pocket. “But like fire,” he continued, “it can be used for good [or it] can be used to destroy.” Some worry that AI has the potential to replace living, breathing educators, Ring said. Faced with budget concerns, school districts might try to streamline spending by buying an AI program and executing sweep- ing teacher cuts. For critics, ChatGPT represents an exis- tential threat to academia. But those with rosier lenses have argued that AI will save education, not destroy it. Sal Khan, founder and CEO of the educa- tion nonprofit Khan Academy, recently de- livered a TedTalk about how he believes that AI can offer “every student on the planet an artificially intelligent — but amazing — per- sonal tutor.” And every educator could like- wise receive an AI teaching assistant. He then demonstrated how the technology can help solve math problems without giving the answer away. “We’re at the cusp of using AI for proba- bly the biggest positive transformation that education has ever seen,” Khan said during the talk. Advocates argue that ChatGPT will im- prove education’s accessibility. It assists learners who have disabilities, such as by verbalizing answers for blind students. It aids non-English speakers by translating content into native tongues. It saves stu- dents time on homework via examples and explanations and also helps them prepare for upcoming exams. Students who learn to work with genera- tive AI, a type of artificial intelligence like ChatGPT that can create text and other con- tent, will be better equipped for jobs in an in- creasingly technocentric economy. Yet how the AI is used down the line — for good or to destroy — is a question without an answer. Edward Tian, a student at Princeton Uni- versity who created an AI-detection pro- gram, referenced a different Greek myth during a January interview with MSNBC. “I think ChatGPT as a technology is incredible and exciting,” he said. “But at the same time, it’s like opening a Pandora’s Box.” D aniel G. Krutka supports taking a skeptical approach to new technolo- gies. The department chair for teacher education and administration in UNT’s College of Education is wary of spec- ulating about generative AI’s potential bene- fits this early on. “Ten years ago, everyone’s like, ‘Social media is going to create democracy,’” Krutka said. “Ten years later, everyone’s like, ‘Social media is going to destroy democracy.’” Krutka points out that ChatGPT isn’t the only generative AI out there. It’s arguably just the most recognizable version, similar to how one might ask for a Kleenex when in need of a tissue. Alicia Claytor Education professor Daniel G. Krutka embraces skepticism with new technology. Alicia Claytor Rudi Thompson, associate vice president of digital strategy and innovation at UNT, says ChatGPT is just new tech like Google. Unfair Park from p4 >> p8
