MHS English teacher Amy Warren leads a lecture in one of her literature classes. (Photo by Clara Noelle)

PARKERSBURG — A new program was released in early March by OpenAI.

Dubbed ChatGPT, the program stands for Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer. ChatGPT is a language processing program driven by AI (artificial intelligence) technology that provides a tool to engage in human-like conversations. This AI can answer questions in a human-like fashion and provide answers to any given topic. For instance, the following interview:

Question: Who created you?

Answer: I was created by OpenAI, a team of developers and researchers in artificial intelligence.

Q: Why did they create you?

(Graphic by Clara Noelle)

A: I was created to assist and augment human capabilities in various tasks, particularly in language processing and communication. As an AI language model developed by OpenAI, my main purpose is to be a tool that helps humans accomplish their goals more efficiently and effectively.

Q: Can you lie or provide false information?

A: As an AI language model, I am programmed to provide responses based on the input given to me. I do not have the ability to lie or intentionally provide false information. My responses are generated based on the algorithms and data provided to me.

Q: Where do you get your information?

A: As an AI language model, I have been trained on a large dataset of text from various sources such as books, articles, and websites. I don’t have personal experiences or access to current events, so I rely on the information provided within the text to generate responses. Additionally, I don’t have the ability to browse or search the internet, and I operate completely within the confines of the programming that governs my behavior.

Q: Were you aware that students are using you to write their essays for them?

A: Yes, as an AI language model, I am aware that some students may use me to generate content for their essays. However, it is important to note that such an activity is unethical and goes against the principles of academic integrity. It is always advisable for students to create their original work using their ideas and knowledge.

While the true nature of how students are using the AI is unsure, there are ways for teachers to combat the usage of AI plagiarism.

The normal plagiarism software will not work on passages written by ChatGPT or any other AI; OpenAI has engineered a software to combat this problem. OpenAI released the GPT-2 Output Detector in response to ChatGPT. GPT-2 Output Detector can detect any passages written by any AI originating from OpenAI.

“It’s just another step in an already long and time consuming process of grading essays,” said Marietta High School English teacher Amy Warren.

ChatGPT might serve some problems that are blind to present day eyes.

“In terms of essay writing, I see it as more problematic than tools that are currently available,” said Warren. “There are already students who plagiarize, and that has been an issue for decades. I think ChatGPT will simply make plagiarism easier.”

While Warren cannot see ChatGPT being a classroom tool at a high school level, she can still visualize it being used for other purposes. She said her husband once used it to create cartoon characters for a youth event at the church they attend.

“It would probably be easier to incorporate it into education at the elementary level,” Warren said.

While Warren agrees that she does not fully know the capabilities of ChatGPT, she is unwavering on her stance of using it as an academic source for essays.

“As I have always said, your essay is only as good as the support you use. As a student, you are not an expert in most fields you write about. The only reliable place to get good scholarly information is from an academic database,” Warren said.

ChatGPT is not an academic database. While the AI does get its information from unknown sources, scholarly or apprenticed, and the information may be true, the information it provides cannot be deemed as scholarly.