No sooner is the Covid problem over than universities have been presented with a different, but equally difficult challenge. Last month artificial intelligence disrupted humans for real when OpenAI – in which Microsoft has just announced a $US10bn investment – released the third version of its ChatGPT platform.
For the first time we have a free, easily accessed AI bot which has close to human communication capacities, as well as the ability to mimic typically human stuff – such as essay writing, coding, joke telling, exam sitting and yarn spinning – in the blink of an eye. If that weren’t enough it also has access to virtually all human knowledge.
ChatGPT, and other similar products, pose several profound challenges and opportunities for educators. One is that ChatGPT can credibly do most assignments given to students – whether research tasks, essays or exams.
Another is that they are a superb source of knowledge. Any student who decides to use an AI bot to learn rather than cheat, immediately finds they have a free, and in most cases entirely reliable, tutor always at their elbow, capable of giving a coherent explanation of almost anything.
And then there is the biggest challenge of all. AI bots will up-end work. Any job which produces written content (including mine) or researches information faces massive upheaval. Coding, which a generation of parents saw as a safe, non-automatible career for their kids, in fact is not. AI can do it, with the exception (for the moment) of highly sophisticated tasks.
The problem for educators is to decide what types of learning is relevant in this new world. Expect many things taught now to lose relevance while new fields will appear. For example, one area of intense interest will be in taming AI, stopping it being used in ways that are unacceptable or unethical.
Another question for educators (and everybody for that matter) is this. In previous technological revolutions new, more lucrative jobs replaced the old jobs which got phased out. Will that pattern be repeated? And can anyone tell educators in which areas they should be offering courses to stay ahead of this latest technological curve?
Put a different way: will AI be a creator of jobs or an outright job destroyer? What if, in this new world, there prove to be few new professional opportunities to exploit and few valuable new areas of learning to master?
We know that the challenge is not going away. Within months the even more capable fourth version of ChatGPT is scheduled to be released. Get ready, if you can.
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