A valid question to ask is: should we 'ban' the use of generative AI in school, or should we embrace it, teaching students its strengths and weaknesses.

In my own mind, I'm not a big fan of the idea of 'unbridled embracement' of ChatGPT and its kind. I think that in the end, it puts extra pressure on the users/students... is this their work, or is this some autogenerated text, similar in concept to 'If you put a chimpanzee at at typewriter, and it banged away at the keys, eventually it would type a line of Shakespeare’s play.' And, isn't an education about internalizing a view of the world, or a subject, that can be used to make future assessments and decisions? This form of AI circumvents that internalization process and leaves it up to the receiver to validate the correctness of the response.

The dilemma is that you can get an answer quickly, but it might not be correct. And, the bot is presenting its answer as its own work (not referencing source materials). Students need to write papers on various subjects, and the 'easy route' is to lean on AI to generate it for them. Now it is up to the teacher to verify the content of the paper, and also identify if the student has internalized the content or is just reiterating the 'chimpanzee text'.

These are all very interesting concepts, and in many ways this technology could erode the value of traditional education by making people seem smarter than they really are.

Didn't Twitter just remove their blue dot indicating 'verified user'? That's the kind of feature needed in ChatGPT, indicating verified or unverified content. It could be that the next person to create this verification service will join the 'world's richest billionaires club'.

This technology is not going away. The people that understand it's strengths and weaknesses enough to properly apply it to their problems will be the early-on winners. Perhaps teaching that concept and the process of validating computer responses is the future of education?

• Dan Waterloo

Very true Dan - we're all struggling now to figure out how to put this technology to good use. Some fascinating findings coming out of our CGScholar implementation, hoping to post the results of a trial in this community in the coming days.

• William Cope

Being caught in this conundrum presently, this article could not be more timely. I have my first-year medical students, most likely, at this very moment, doing a final report on specific diseases. Students speak to me openly about how they use ChatGPT layered with a Quilbot summary to further cover up what is not theirs. I pondered. Here I am, posting an announcement to students regarding how we both love technology, but we lecturers want your own writing as a culmination of a semester’s work on this project. I downloaded QuillBot. I learned that the ChatGPT parrot would now be observed, caught, tarred, and feathered in a game of Tom and Jerry via Turnitin. However, this is not the game I want to play as an educator. In their shoes, as a desperate, pressured, grade-centered medical student, I would never be so virtuous to turn away from such technology. I keep thinking.

As the pandemic is over and I have returned to the classroom, maybe ChatGPT would bring students around to us again and create the bond of genuinely working together face-to-face. Getting to know students more, being together, and expanding the educator-student ties may be the unintended result of such technology. Maybe now we will be working together and writing in class. I would be observing what is done with or without technology. We should guide students on how to use LaMDAs and the like, well, and wisely. We can all write supported by this technology- another tool to be very careful of.

Garry Kasparov, the top chess player in the 1990s, was beaten in chess by IBM’s Deep Blue computer. So much was feared in terms of in the man vs. machine battle. It was feared to be the end of humans playing chess and a threat to our intellect. However, Kasparov said that these fears should be conquered if the best is to be gotten for humanity. Today’s chess phone apps are more robust than Deep Blue. I do not fear LaMDAs.

I figured wisdom would prevail as the shock and reverberations settle of LaMDAs expand, and the seismic disruptions we are feeling and experiencing from LaMDAs will force positive changes in education to align with how we learn through Scholar. Education must change due to the AI available today, and that is a very good thing.

Furthermore, what I found fascinating in this article was the choice of the ancient clay figure with no mention of its relation to the writing. Why was it here? (COM-) Somehow I loved it- my dream of ultra relaxation. No, not death- the elbow was at a firm angle, not dangling, and the body, not slumped. I have seen such a body on my home sofa too many times with the similar substantial physique.

The Sleeping Lady was uncovered in Malta in the Hypogeum of Hal Saflieni in a niche in a main chamber of underground burial complexes cut into a limestone hill from the Temple Period (4000-2500BCE). Although often referred to as sleeping, it is thought that she may equally be a representation of death, eternal sleep, or a mother goddess.

The sleeping lady was excavated from in a deep cavern known as the Snake Pit. Fascinating how her hands and head are minuscule in proportion to the excessive thighs and upper arms. Lovely and somehow graceful, yet I contemplated if could she actually stand on her own. What can she grasp onto? So abundant, can she be grasped? It made me recognize that where there is sumptuousness and abundance, snakes may also reside. Can she strive? What is her source? What is the empirical truth she holds forever fixed in the position she is found?

Over fattened with superfluous information, can these espoused writings produced by LaMDAs stand alone as well? Their minuscule non-thoughts and ballooned verbose appendages may extend out everywhere with the possibility of bursting at any time. What soul is in the research produced by LaMDAs with its spewing out elements of fool's gold and pretzel logic? The mundane work we often have to do somehow builds up our repertoire and deepens our understanding, building our patience to strive and think more deeply. She may just be an ancient form of the overabundance we face. She may very well be likened to LaMDAs.

Resources

Pyrgies, J., 6 Nov 2021.Sleeping Beauty of the Underworld | ARCHAEOTRAVEL.eu. https://archaeotravel.eu/sleeping-beauty-of-the-underworld/

Ted 2017., 25 Apr 2017 I won first match with Deep Blue, says Kasparov - BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-39701222

Van der Crabben, J., 24 May 2013. The Sleeping Lady (Illustration) - World History Encyclopedia. https://www.worldhistory.org/image/245/the-sleeping-lady/

Wells, O., 17 Feb 2021. The Megalithic Temples of Malta - World History Encyclopedia. https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1678/the-megalithic-temples-of-malta/

• Sakinah A. Ismael

What a beautifully lyrical statement, Sakinah. I just don't know what to say other than that we were in an e-learning conference in Malta last week where we saw this arresting figurine, no larger than a mobile phone, but much larger than an LaMDA.

• William Cope

Lambda

Lambda: As knowledge is shed

Into the impenetrable

darkness of ignorance,

A reclining woman

Ancient, ample lies

Asleep as time passes.

Dorment, relaxed

Unruffled, untroubled, unperturbed

Lambda: Energy changes

Writing harvested as organs are harvested

Salvage the living soul, not lifeless words.

Theories of existence and why she exists

As she does, dead or asleep

Nothing disturbs her

Can she raise her head?

What can she grasp?

LaMDA

• Sakinah A. Ismael

@Sakinah A. Ismael, Beautiful!

• Melissa Zaniewski

Beautiful!

• Melissa Zaniewski

I'm speechless... thank you Sakinah.

• William Cope