Teachers urged to embrace AI robots

Robots will be used to mark essays and assignments in schools and universities, as the ‘plagiarism police’ turn the tables on the ‘chatbot cheats’.

Artificial intelligence can help students learn. Picture: iStock

Robots will be used to mark essays and assignments in schools and universities, as the “plagiarism police” turn the tables on the “chatbot cheats”.

Turnitin, which is used by most schools and universities to detect plagiarism, has warned it is a “fruitless exercise’’ to try to ban artificial intelligence.

Instead, it is developing new programs that will use AI to mark tests and assignments, with customised lessons embedded to correct errors and explain concepts.

Turnitin regional vice-president James Thorley said the ­company had already built a prototype to detect the use of ChatGPT, a chatbot that uses ­artificial intelligence to generate comprehensive written responses on command.

Although the software was never designed for cheating, educators worldwide are worried the technology can avoid existing plagiarism checks.

Mr Thorley said Turnitin was working on ways for teachers to compare students’ previous work with AI-generated essays.

“Humans write in a more relaxed way, but AI is more pre­dictable,’’ he said, adding: “It’s probably a fruitless exercise to try to ban something like this – the future lies in a world where it’s incorporated in … teaching.’’

Mr Thorley said schools would eventually use AI to “embed learning’’ in homework or assignments. “We’re thinking of using similar technology to analyse what a student has done and provide feedback, both to the teacher and the student,’’ he said.

“It’s not about replacing teachers, but giving a level of feedback to students that a teacher could never do because they just don’t have time.

“A teacher doesn’t have the ­capacity to provide very detailed feedback to every student every time they write a draft.’’

Mr Thorley said data from ­online assessments could alert teachers when students are struggling with a task or concept, so they have a chance to teach it again or differently.

“Feedback is most effective when it is immediate and relevant, and technology can assist with timely feedback,’’ he said.

University of South Australia professor George Siemens, who researches AI in education, said schools and universities should embrace rather than block technology such as ChatGPT.

“It will require a dramatic ­rethinking of many traditional approaches to how we teach and what we assess,’’ he said.

“This is an outstanding innovation and a watershed moment in human intellectual history. It gives us an … opportunity to ­amplify human intelligence and create things differently.

“A whole suite of tools are going to come online in the next few years that will help us solve complex problems in partnership with AI, instead of fighting it.’’

Professor Siemens said that banning AI in education would be like banning cars when they were invented.

“Let’s find ways to teach students to use AI, and to use it to ­improve learning,’’ he said. “Our existing education system forces people to regurgitate information back to a teacher. This is our watershed moment to rethink parts of the education system that need updating.’’

Professor Siemens said teachers would need to “create learning activities that require a student to use AI’’. “Teachers need to brainstorm the use of AI to make parts of schoolwork easier and better,’’ he said.

Professor Siemens predicted that AI would be used to track student progress and provide customised feedback throughout school and university.

“We might have an AI agent customise how it teaches a student to write,’’ he said.

“If we ban it, block it or minimise its use we will miss out on opportunities.’’