Schools in Australia have officially rolled out the use of artificial intelligence bot ChatGPT.
The chatbot was initially banned in all public schools across Australia until Federal Education Minister Jason Clare announced a lift of the blanket ban in October last year.
Education ministers formally backed a national framework guiding the use of technology, despite Clare’s ongoing concerns with plagiarism and privacy.
Every state in Australia had temporarily restricted ChatGPT because of plagiarism and privacy concerns, except for South Australia, who left it to school principals to decide whether it should be used.
The chatbot obtains its data from readily available sources on the internet, books and users, personalising responses moulded by all accessible information.
Starting as a non-profit company in 2015, the chatbot was developed and eventually launched in November 2022 by open AI, a research laboratory based in San Francisco.
Private school Beaconhills College, located in Berwick, has been one of the schools to implement the chatbot in its curriculum.
Despite the negative connotations of ChatGPT, Beaconhills College head of Senior School Jodie Bayley remains optimistic about the learning tool.
“It can be used well, it’s a tool I use in the classroom for students to see where the direction of some of their investigations can take them and it’s a prompt for their investigation, rather than it does all the work for them,” she said.
“We just need to accept that it’s there and find a way to make sure we’re using it in a safe and secure manner,” she said.
A survey conducted by Youth Insight in June of last year showed 70 percent of 14 to 17-year-old Australians have used ChatGPT. Fifty-nine percent used it for schoolwork or study, and 42 percent for completing school assignments.
Outside of plagiarism and privacy concerns, the bot has been criticised for its inaccuracy and overreliance.
Beaconhills College School Captain Charlotte Moseley has utilised the program but understands the concerns associated with it.
“I use ChatGPT to get the basic understanding of content I’m working on from a year four level to a university level, it really helps me understand it at an easier level.”
“I fully understand the concerns surrounding [ChatGPT] but it is a very helpful and supportive tool,” she said.
“I would encourage a lot of students to use ChatGPT for their brainstorming but not for their final projects.”
The educational use of the program is being monitored by education ministers to ensure there is no further concern.
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