The rise of students using Artificial Intelligence chatbots, such as ChatGPT, have become increasingly popular for students looking for an easy way to answer questions, analyse text, and produce essays to help with their studies. This was highlighted in a recent survey conducted by the University of Cambridge’s independent newspaper Varsity, with 47.3% of the respondents admitting to using the technology. This can be attributed to the ease of answer questions, providing helpful revisions, or even completing articles or essays without needing to do the research.
However, while AI has become a helpful tool, there is growing concern that using this technology could lead to an increase in academic misconduct proceedings. Universities are responsible for enforcing student conduct policies and rules against plagiarism and collusion, and any work produced with the help of ChatGPT could be considered a form of misconduct. Thus, the University of Cambridge has made it clear and issued guidance to departments to address this risk to assessment integrity.
The potential repercussions for academic misconduct can be very serious and range from reduced marks to the risk of even being stripped of one’s degree. Therefore, students should carefully consider the consequences of using AI technology for assessed work prior to doing so.
OpenAI is a technology company with its headquarters in San Francisco, founded in 2015 by Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and others. OpenAI focuses on researching and developing artificial general intelligence in hopes that it will be universally beneficial to humanity and promote safety. It has been responsible for various projects such as the release of the ChatGPT technology.
Sam Altman, the president of OpenAI, is an American entrepreneur, investor, programmer and business executive. He is a well-known figure in the field of artificial intelligence and was the private sector lead of the US government’s Advanced Research Projects Agency. Altman has also served as co-chair of the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence as well as a mentor at Y Combinator. He has additionally made numerous investments in various technology companies.