In higher education, the introduction of generative AI has raised thorny questions about academic integrity. Students and professors can’t decide whether AI is a research tool or a cheating engine. Our story from 2023: www.wired.com/story/chatgp... - ThreadSky

wired.com • 2 days ago

In higher education, the introduction of generative AI has raised thorny questions about academic integrity. Students and professors can’t decide whether AI is a research tool or a cheating engine.

Our story from 2023: https://www.wired.com/story/chatgpt-college-university-plagiarism/

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junglebay.bsky.social•2 days ago

Mmm could it be similar to the affect of cheap calculators brought to math ?

jennytheroselady.bsky.social•2 days ago

Both

thefinacountdown.bsky.social•2 days ago

And, btw, the majority of students in my classroom over the years have a strong disdain for AI - not least bc of its environmental impacts.

W/r/t teachers using it- I can’t speak to HS- but it is *absolutely* not useful for academic research bc it’s so commonly incorrect.

thefinacountdown.bsky.social•2 days ago

This is only confusing if you have no theory guiding your pedagogy. I don’t assign essays for the hell of it. I want them to think critically. So AI is banned in my courses.

It’s actually relatively easy (tho of course requires extra, unpaid work) to AI-proof assignments.

lalenjames.bsky.social•2 days ago

By "AI-proof assignments" do you mean checking if someone turned in the verbatim output of an AI, or do you mean checking if AI was used in the research phase, and to generate ideas or a rough draft? Because the latter is much harder to AI-proof.

happyjoker1.bsky.social•2 days ago

A rough draft or an outline is easy to generate with AI and then refining the draft with each iteration of AI. Students will use any technique to get their papers to pass the smell test.

Using AI for research is easily detectable because sources fed back by AI might not even exist in reality.

baphometta.bsky.social•2 days ago

Ooh, I know: It's a cheating, AND plagiarism, AND ecocide machine! FFS if the machine is doing the thing you're supposed to be learning to do for you, doing your THINKING for you, what possible value are you able to offer besides training the machine to convincingly replace your useless ass?

guintiger.bsky.social•2 days ago

"Students and professors can’t decide whether AI is a research tool or a cheating engine."

It's not a binary thing - it's absolutely BOTH...it all depends on how you use it.

Sorta like the large wrench that I have and will often use as a hammer in a pinch (much to my dad's horror).

fennario-we-go.bsky.social•2 days ago

They would never admit, but I wonder how many professors are using ChatGPT to write and review research for publication.

jukesgrrl.bsky.social•2 days ago

I say cheating engine. And it will really yield fun results when med school students can get their work done via AI Doctors.

wired.com•2 days ago

Oh, and don't forget the massive amounts of energy and water consumed by generative AI tools.

"Those data centers, they're just evaporating water into the air," one responsible AI researcher said.

Our story from 2024: https://www.wired.com/story/ai-energy-demands-water-impact-internet-hyper-consumption-era/

pamdorra.bsky.social•2 days ago

These data centers, and others, are bad for people.

https://therealnews.com/like-being-tortured-texas-residents-living-next-to-bitcoin-mine-are-getting-sick-and-being-ignored

stef47.bsky.social•12 hours ago

EIGHTY percent of the water used in these processes is lost to evaporation. Gone. Finito.

stef47.bsky.social•2 days ago

By 2027, AI’s global water demand is projected to reach 4.2–6.6 trillion liters per year-equivalent to the annual water use of 30–47 million people.

In the US alone, Bitcoin mining uses between 93-120 gigaliters of water annually, equivalent to the water consumption of 300,000 U.S. households.

blakeyblakey-1-9.bsky.social•2 days ago

AI is unquestionably a threat to humanity, but not because it’s going to launch a nuclear Armageddon.
It’s a threat because it will make more people dumber and easier to manipulate and destroy our planet faster,

stupid-david.bsky.social•2 days ago

Between Crypto Farms, AI and Electric Cars. We'll be lucky if there's enough juice to power a standard size vibrator.

gachiru.bsky.social•2 days ago

Student and lecturers are using AI to write and grade papers. So AI in a school by itself.

observablereality.bsky.social•2 days ago

drkimm.bsky.social•2 days ago

Isnt the criteria the same? If you use a source you make a reference. Quote or footnote. Thats called research. Without the reference its cheating.

I dont think anything has changed. Feel free to explain.

happyjoker1.bsky.social•2 days ago

It will soon be a time where a student can enter a prompt (or a series of prompts) to say ChatGPT on the topic assigned and get back a properly formatted research paper or essay with all sources properly footnoted. All that remains is if this paper will pass muster with Turnitin.

happyjoker1.bsky.social•2 days ago

Sadly AI is improving all the time and at some point it will become quite difficult to discern if a paper is real or AI generated. All it comes down to is how the sources are used and how they are footnoted/credited, but AI might soon even cover that base. Only a matter of time!

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