Students doing homework with ChatGPT is a non-issue

A few weeks ago, I wrote an article claiming that the impact of automatic code generation by ChatGPT is much less than imagined. The hue and cry around the technology is an example of vividness bias. I am going to play the same tune again, this time about another scare around ChatGPT: students using it to cheat.

As you know, ChatGPT is a generative model. It can write assignments, solve math problems and even write papers. Everyone seems to think that this will affect the way the teachers evaluate students. It will also affect the quality of learning in students. I beg to differ. I will argue that even accepting that this is a real issue, it actually affects a very small number of students. I am restricting myself to India, whose academic environment I am familiar with.

As if students never cheated before ChatGPT came along! I studied at a very good engineering college in Mumbai. Almost everyone in my class, myself included, used to copy the journals from someone else. There were some students who used to do all their work by themselves. Will these few students use ChatGPT and stop working themselves? I doubt it, but even granting that they will, their number is really small.?

Think about the schools. India has a massive number of schools. A vast majority of them do not have enough teachers. Most of the girls and boys have to work to help their parents after school. They rarely get time to do their homework, even when there is a teacher to assign it to them.

I grew up in a rural place. It was not very backward and our school was well equipped. Still, most of my schoolmates did not identify with the education they received. In a class of 100 students, barely 5 have been able to make a use of the education for their living. Today the situation has changed a little, but not a lot. Imagine that a student from this region is using ChatGPT to do the homework. I would consider that as excellent progress. Not only has she started giving time to study, but she is getting used to finding answers using a tool. Since ChatGPT is a treasure of knowledge, she might find answers to problems that are real to her family; such as how to run their small business or how to take care of their animals.?

The number of such students in India is far, far larger than the students from well-to-do families in the cities, who attend the really fine schools. But do they do all their assignments themselves? Not many of them.

All kinds of guidebooks, websites and tuition classes help students in their assignments. At least one of the parents is fully involved in making sure that the child is doing everything correctly. Only yesterday I read a news article about a company losing a lot of revenue because of ChatGPT. The company used to help students do their homework. It’s unfortunate for the company, but was that not cheating as well?? I did not read many articles protesting against the fact that a large company is set up to help students to do their homework.

I am inclined to think that students using ChatGPT is a problem, but it is minute in scale. Generative AI can be used to increase the spread of ‘usable’ education in a country like India in so many ways.??We need more thinking about that.