ChatGPT and the future of learning.

Chat GPT is a large language model trained by Open AI to generate text in a conversational style. It has proven itself to be exemplary when it comes to natural language understanding and use. There have been several language models, but Chat GPT clearly outperforms the existing alternatives. For all its capabilities, it has its limitations, for example, it struggles to solve problems with intuitively generated responses, but has the ability to correct itself when told to watch out for such traps.

Chat GPT will undoubtedly become the mainstream technology for companies wanting to automate their customer conversations but it is unlikely that machines will ever be able to mimic the human brain when it comes to emotions, particularly empathy. It may have some obvious application in the field of education & learning.?As an educational tool, there is every chance that it will make essay writing obsolete. There's already a discussion about whether this will make homework a thing of the past as well. The?issue that educators and academia ought to focus on is how this may stifle the process of creativity among students & learners. We know that learning occurs through a process of observation (seeing & listening), reinforcement (nature & nurture) & doing (action & repetition). The famous System 1 & 2 theory propounded by Daniel Kahneman describes the process of thinking; wherein System 1 (limbic system; also known as the reptilian brain) processes information involuntarily & instantaneously. System 2 is the reflective or logical brain, which takes time to process information. And it's the set of interactions between these two systems that give rise to traits and behaviors.?Our education system is to a large extent partial towards System 1, it is designed in such a way that it puts a penalty on "being wrong", and this is reinforced (System 1) at every stage of the growing up process by teachers, parents, friends and the like to a point that it pretty much stifles the urge in children to come up with anything original.?The mainstreaming of technologies like Chat GPT could only exacerbate the problem!?In the movie 3 Idiots, Rancho defines a machine as something that reduces human effort, in this case, there's a looming risk of the human effort & joy of learning being taken away by a machine. And the irony of it is that while the Chat GPT learning model imbibes all of the traits we ideally want to see in a learning system, this same system seems to be taking away those very traits that we want to equip our children and learners with.

Learning happens and thrives when the environment is unbridled and fun! As these stanzas penned by my younger son capture the sentiment so beautifully,

"In a world of rules & structures, learning can sometimes feel like torture.

But when we let go of the reins and embrace an unconstrained brain,

We open ourselves to a world of fun, where creativity and exploration can be won.

We discover new passions and interests galore,

as we journey through unconstrained learning yore!"

Disclaimer: I had told my younger one to pen a few lines on the joy of learning, and this is what he came up with in a few seconds,?thanks?to Chat GPT! Chat GPT is where creativity goes in order to die a quick death! Q.E.D.