TechDigits

Tech news
Friday, Mar 31, 2023

A Wharton business school professor is requiring his students to use ChatGPT

A Wharton business school professor is requiring his students to use ChatGPT

UPenn professor Ethan Mollick told NPR that he thinks educators need to adapt to the new technology, despite fears of cheating.
While ChatGPT may be getting heat from certain educators who worry it will facilitate cheating, one professor said that he is embracing the technology with open arms.

Ethan Mollick, an entrepreneurship and innovation professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, told NPR on Thursday that he now requires his students to use ChatGPT to help with their classwork.

"This is a tool that's useful," Mollick said during the NPR interview. "There's a lot of positives about it. That doesn't minimize the fact that cheating and negativity are there, but those have been there for a long time."

His new AI policy — which NPR reviewed — calls AI usage an "emerging skill." The policy also states that students must check ChatGPT's responses and will be held accountable for any inaccuracies that the bot spits out.

Mollick said that he's already seeing positive results. During class this week, nearly all of his students used ChatGPT to help generate project ideas for an assignment.

"The ideas so far are great, partially as a result of that set of interactions," Mollick said.

He also said it can help students, especially non-native English speakers, improve their writing and alleviate the burden of stressful writing tasks, such as writing emails and letters. Some of his students who have used the AI to do just that told him that they were "taken more seriously" as a result.

Mollick did not respond to Insider's request for comment.

The Wharton professor's policy comes after some schools decided to ban students and teachers from using ChatGPT out of fear that it would encourage plagiarism and cheating. Some professors have already caught their students using ChatGPT to write their essays, and one university student even made a tool to identify AI plagiarism.

But Mollick is part of a class of educators who think that ChatGPT can actually be useful.

He admits that it is "depressing" to know that cheating may occur at "an even grander scale" as a result of ChatGPT. But at the same time, he thinks that teachers must learn to adapt to new technologies as they emerge.

"We've taught people how to do math in a world with calculators," he said, likening ChatGPT to that technology.

Sam Altman — the CEO of OpenAI, the firm behind ChatGPT — echoed the sentiment.

In an interview with StrictlyVC, Altman said that he understands why educators are worried about ChatGPT, but that ultimately, the benefits would outweigh the costs. He said that the chat bot can be "an unbelievable personal tutor."

"Generative text is something we all need to adapt to," Altman said.

And it's not like ChatGPT is perfect.

"AI will never be as good as the best experts in a field," Mollick said. "We still need to teach people to be experts."
Newsletter

Related Articles

TechDigits
Close
0:00
0:00
China and Brazil have signed a new deal that will allow them to trade in their own currencies, bypassing the US dollar as an intermediary
Elon Musk and Others Call for Pause on A.I., Citing ‘Profound Risks to Society’
U.S. charges FTX's Bankman-Fried with paying $40 million bribe
Fallen 'Crypto King' Who Owes Millions to Investors Was Kidnapped and Tortured
Regulators blame social media for SVB's rapid collapse: 'Complete game changer'
AOC explains why she opposes banning TikTok
Gordon Moore, a co-founder of Intel Corporation, died at 94
Donald Trump arrested – Twitter goes wild with doctored pictures
Credit Suisse's Scandalous History Resulted in an Obvious Collapse - It's time for regulators who fail to do their job to be held accountable and serve as an example by being behind bars.
Russian Hackers Preparing New Cyber Assault Against Ukraine
A brief banking situation report
Elon Musk Is Planning To Build A Town In Texas For His Employees
The Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse effect is spreading around the world, affecting startup companies across the globe
Market Chaos as USDC Loses Peg to USD after $3.3 Billion Reserves Held by Silicon Valley Bank Closed.
Banking regulators close SVB, the largest bank failure since the financial crisis
In a major snub to Downing Street's Silicon Valley dreams, UK chip giant Arm has dealt a serious blow to the government's economic strategy by opting for a US listing
It's the question on everyone's lips: could a four-day workweek be the future of employment?
Corruption and Influence Buying Uncovered in International Mainstream Media: Investigation Reveals Growing Disinformation Mercenaries
Being a Tiktoker might be expensive…
China's top tech firms, including Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu, NetEase, and JD.com, are developing their own versions of Open AI's AI-powered chatbot, ChatGPT
This shocking picture, showing how terrible is the results of the earthquake in Turkey
The desk of King Carlos Alberto of Sardinia has many secret compartments
Charlie Munger, calls for a ban on cryptocurrencies in the US, following China's lead
First generation unopened iPhone set to fetch more than $50,000 at auction.
Almost 30% of professionals say they've tried ChatGPT at work
Interpol seeks woman who ran elaborate exam cheating scam in Singapore
What is ChatGPT?
Tesla reported record profits and record revenues for 2022
Microsoft is finalising plans to become the latest technology giant to reduce its workforce during a global economic slowdown
Tesla slashes prices globally by as much as 20 percent
After Failing To Pay Office Rent, Twitter May Sell User Names
FTX fraud investigators are digging deeper into Sam Bankman-Fried's inner circle – and reportedly have ex-engineer Nishad Singh in their sights
TikTok CEO Plans to Meet European Union Regulators
U.S. Moves to Seize Robinhood Shares, Silvergate Accounts Tied to FTX
Coinbase to Pay $100 Million in Settlement With New York Regulator
FTX assets worth $3.5bn held by Bahamas securities regulator
Former FTX CEO Bankman-Fried finally arrested in Bahamas after U.S. files charges
Corruption works: House Financial Services Chair Waters doesn't plan to subpoena her donor, Sam Bankman-Fried, to testify at hearing on FTX collapse
Yellen hints at ‘national security’ probe into Twitter purchase
Elon Musk reinstates Donald Trump's Twitter account.
George W. Bush and Barack Obama will hold back-to-back disinformation conferences
Solar + Powerwall ensures you never lose power, even if the grid goes down
This man paid for strangers' grocery and it moved them to tears
Meta introduces a new version of Mark Zuckerberg
Virtual Reality on billboards: BMW advertisement on Times Square
Apple CEO Tim Cook says coding should be taught as early as elementary school: 'It's the most important language you can learn'
Apple Executive Resigns After Viral TikTok Shows Him Making Crude Jokes
Huawei is not only better technology, but also protecting users better: Apple Warns Of Security Flaw For Iphones, Ipads And Macs
Mark Zuckerberg warns many teams will ‘shrink’ as Meta revenue drops
Elon Musk reportedly begged for forgiveness after his affair with Google co-founder Sergey Brin's wife
×