The trend of using artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, such as ChatGPT, in the education sector is growing rapidly. Chegg Inc., a “student-first connected learning platform” with an annual revenue of $767 million, recognizes the launch of AI technologies for online education as a true disruption to their current business model. With their slice of the education market focused on aiding college students with homework and studying for exams, the company charged subscriptions of $14.95 a month until they were hit in 2020 by a slowed academic pace due to the return of students to campus. This resulted in a drop in sales, and a 38% drop in shares after Chegg commented on the development of OpenAI’s conversational chat product, ChatGPT.
ChatGPT is able to mimick a human language, presenting information in an accessible and conversational manner. This has been successfully deployed in a variety of applications, including the composition of school essays, coding and coding bug checking. This has caused students to flock to ChatGPT to try it out, posing a threat to companies such as Stack Overflow, which has relied on a decade of knowledge-sharing and problem-solving.
However, the most inconvenient factor of ChatGPT is its errors and inaccuracies. This does not pose an issue when utilized for coding, as the code can be run and immediately detected for any errors. Unfortunately, erroneous information can be churned out for mathematics, potentially convincing students that 1+1 is in fact 3.
Chegg and other education providing organizations, such as Pearson Plc and TPR Education LLC, must tackle ChatGPT’s presence in the industry by assessing their competitive advantage. Chegg is in a rather fortunate position due to its size, and believes its edge comes from decades of developing content developed by humans. In conjunction with this, a strong user interface and easy content delivery may help this company in the long run. Companies such as New Oriental Education & Technology Group and TAL Education Group are also employing AI to improve content quality.
Overall, ChatGPT is another development in the rapidly evolving education industry and its potential implications are yet to be seen. For organizations using AI-based technologies, such as Chegg, the key will be to realize the true value of their proprietary learning materials, as this could be their pot of gold in the long-run. Hack Overflow, being the largest benefiter of knowledge sharing, may be the biggest threatened entity here, but time will tell. Ultimately, it is clear that AI technology is here to stay, and companies must adapt to survive.
