“Trained artificial intelligence – technology with educational degree”

Artificial intelligence (AI) influence our daily lives in various aspects (Carvalho et al., 2022). Being essentially human creation emerged within the spiral process of technological development AI raised to fulfill human needs in the past while continually changing those in qualitative and quantitative manner causing shifts in the ways all the human activities are performed in the present moment and reflecting on how these activities will be pursued in the future techno-social environment. In that sense, the most significant stride in the field of AI in recent years refers to the accomplishments of the OpenAI research laboratory and the invention and development of Generative Pre-Trained Transformer – GPT language model (Mhlanga, 2023a). Initial GPT version from the 2018 was notably improved by the 2020 when the third version GPT-3 was introduced (Eke, 2023). Although GPT-3 is not the only generative AI language model (Gozalo-Brizuela & Garrido-Merchan, 2023; Yu, 2023), it is outstanding because it represents a large language model (LLM) that uses hundreds of billions of words stored within fully available Internet databases (Rudolph et al., 2023) and is based on natural language processing (NLP) system which enables GPT-3 to use abovementioned data in order to generate human-like texts (essays, stories, poems, codes, etc.) and conversations by request while engaging in a deep learning process (Deng & Lin, 2022). GPT-3 model was incorporated into the language generating tool ChatGPT which was launched in November 2022 as an open-source chatbot available to worldwide audience possessing all described peculiarities of GPT-3 (Eke, 2023; Rudolph et al., 2023). It seems that OpenAI made great step towards reaching their long-term goal - creating an “artificial general intelligence – AGI” (OpenAI, 2015) which refers to making machines being in ability to perform any intellectual task or demonstrate any intellectual activity that humans can (Rudolph et al., 2023). As implied at the very beginning, just as in case of AI and technologies creation and application in general, ChatGPT was developed with the expectation to impact each field of human activity and every aspect of society (Zhai, 2023).

Change of state: from educating the technology to technology that educates

Having in mind briefly described essence, design, purpose and capacities attributed to ChatGPT it is very understandable why it shortly became the issue of theoretical, practical, scientific, research and political endeavors within the field of education (Mhlanga, 2023b). In other words ChatGPT impacts all levels and fields of education (Rahman & Watanobe, 2023) including adult education and professional development as well (Mhlanga, 2023b), entire educational systems at different levels (Rudolph et al., 2023), early identification of learning and educational needs (Zhai, 2023), planning and organization of education (Carvalho et al., 2022), engagement of all parties involved in realization of educational process, primarily teachers and students who utilize this AI solution as a tool for preparing/accomplishing assignments and exams, (Eke, 2023), lesson planning/attending (Rahman & Watanobe, 2023) and introducing innovation in terms of educational interaction through content creation, (self)monitoring, group orientation and personalized instruction feedback (Rahman & Watanobe, 2023; Rudolph et al., 2023; Shidiq, 2023; Zhai, 2023), evaluation and assessment (Rahman & Watanobe, 2023; Rudolph et al., 2023; Swiecki et al, 2022), curriculum development especially in domains of defining educational goals, outcomes and specific activities which lead toward their achievement (Zhai, 2023), administration and recording (Rahman & Watanobe, 2023; Zhai, 2023), scientific research in the field of education both as a tool and as a subject (Hill-Yardin et al., 2023), educational ethics and integrity (Crothers et al., 2022; Eke, 2023; Mhlanga, 2023a; Yu, 2023).

ChatGPT: controversial educational technology

Shortly after it is launched the general and, to a significant extent, educational application of ChatGPT became the subject of controversy dividing general public, educational practitioners and scientific researchers into those with dystopian attitudes and those who are extensively optimistic (Mhlanga, 2023a; Rudolph et al., 2023; Sejnowski, 2023). Considering the essence and capacities of ChatGPT the debate was focused around the issue of academic and scientific writing offering different argumentations and points of view on how will this AI tool influence phenomena such as intellectual property (Bjork, 2023; Hill-Yardin et al., 2023), plagiarism (Eke, 2023; Yu, 2023), authenticity, originality and creativity in actual learning process (Rahman & Watanobe, 2023) and critical and analytical thinking (Mhlanga, 2023a; Rudolph et al., 2023, Shidiq, 2023; Zhai, 2023) as constituents of holistic development (Yu, 2023). However, ChatGPT is present, available and still developing (Rahaman et al., 2023) in order to serve the humans who created it as a technological solution aimed to fulfilling the wide variety of human needs. ChatGPT itself will disrupt none of abovementioned educational matters. It is up to humans engaged in any educational domain, performing any educational role, to internalize and respect ethical principles and values such as honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility and courage (Eke, 2023) and to incorporate those into educational application of ChatGPT in responsible manner, so the integrity of education in its wholeness could be sustained.

Responsible use of ChatGPT = increased equity in education

If used in responsible manner ChatGPT should uphold the equity in education (Carvalho et al., 2022; Jadhav & Jadhav, 2023) both in conceptual and practical sense, similarly to what happened with the emergence and growth of Internet based e-learning and online education. Educational barriers referring time and space (place) are minimized, learners are empowered to get involved in personal development without considerations referring their learning habits and abilities (Cohen, 2023), learning process becomes more individual since different educational topics could be put on verification and critically observed and teachers are somehow obligated to be up to date with the technologies so they can overcome potential issues referring data protection, intellectual property and transparency and lack of engagement in critical thinking continual development and engagement (Kasneci, 2023). Of course, to reach greater equity in education through the application of ChatGPT, some general, physical, technological, socio-cultural, educational and infrastructural disadvantages should be brought to lower extent. As Bjork (2023) argues, ChatGPT is not very friendly toward Indigenous languages while highly cooperative with English language, the latest version of this AI tool (GPT-4) is not open-source so the availability is diminished by the economic factor, and in some countries ChatGPT is banned from the educational system. Having all mentioned in mind it could be said that educational participants with poor language skills, poor financial situation and/or institutional ChatGPT prohibition are significantly disadvantaged in terms of ChatGPT application in educational purposes compared to those who do not face argued problems. In this context responsibility of entire educational systems and (self)responsibility of learners reflect in provision and exploitation of opportunities referring development and appropriate application of general literacy and ICT and media literacy skills particularly to make available technology usable. Also responsible systematic educational approach should include orientation toward development and implementation of critical thinking, problem-solving and creative thinking skills in technological endeavors of todays’ people, rather than banning the inevitable, so the actual educational inclusiveness could be reached.

References

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Kasneci, E. (2023, July 2). ChatGPT can lead to greater equity in education. Technical University of Munich. https://www.tum.de/en/news-and-events/all-news/press-releases/details/chatgpt-kann-zu-mehr-bildungsgerechtigkeit-fuehren

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Zhai, X. (2023). ChatGPT User Experience: Implications for Education. SSRN Electronic Journal (2023, January 4). https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4312418