The AI system ChatGPT is making waves. Launched just in November 2022, it has prompted all sorts of reactions in the world of education, some hostile and some favourable. InThinking authors have been discussing this in our authors’ forum and people have posted some interesting links, which I propose to share with you.

** The IB has already taken a position on ChatGPT, as you can see in this blog available in MyIB, Artificial intelligence in IB assessment and education: a crisis or an opportunity?, written by Matt Glanville, Head of Assessment Principles and Practice.

I note that this article initially focuses on the implications of the system for assessment, and specifically coursework which contributes to Diploma marks. Glanville states that any text generated by ChatGPT must be duly identified – if not, it will amount to plagiarism. In this sense, it is no different from any other source which is not the student’s own work. In order to monitor this, teachers must observe the student’s development of ideas, discuss them with the student to make sure that they are properly interiorised, and estimate whether the level of work is in line with the student’s real competence. In effect, no different from checking that a student’s Extended Essay has not been produced unfairly.

More widely, Glanville suggests that such AI-generated texts may be very useful in developing students’ critical thinking skills. Different texts can be generated by asking slightly different questions, and then the results compared to analyse assumptions and bias.

In short, the blog argues that systems like ChatGPT provide “significant challenges and opportunities” for education. It is clear that this new level of AI abilities is still very recent, and we shall all have to think creatively about how to use such systems to expand students’ genuine abilities.

** You can also have a look at this report in the Guardian, which gives a simple summary of the views expressed by Matt Glanville, and also information about other sophisticated chatbots which will soon be available.

** Our discussion in the InThinking authors’ forum was started by a colleague who provided this link to a video explaining how ChatGPT “just killed traditional language learning” – how it is likely to change the whole way in which languages can be taught and learned. (Just click play, and skip the ads.)

The video is lively, concise and informative. It explains clearly a number of the ways in which ChatGPT works as a language learning resource. Apparently, not only does it provide lucid answers to specific grammar questions, but it can provide a wide range of examples of language in action … adjusted to whatever level you are at … and dealing with whatever subject matter is of interest to you. In addition, you can actually have a spontaneous conversation with the system, which will respond effectively, while at the same time providing correction of language errors if you want.

The suggestion in the video is that ChatGPT is effectively an online language teacher you can have with you all the time on your phone, with vast resources and, presumably, total patience! So what about us mere biological language teachers? That takes us back to the IB’s statement cited at the top – that we can and should be providing critical thinking skills. I would doubt that ChatGPT is capable of constructive, independent thinking: in my limited understanding of how the system works, it functions by combining relevant words and phrases in appropriate ways – but does it actually understand anything? And can it be said to be personally involved… to actually care about the language learner who uses it?

In short, ChatGPT is a fascinating new frontier, a real support for language learning – but I reckon we teachers still have the edge!