'The textbook definition of plagiarism': Educators mobilize to counter essay-writing app ChatGPT
CTV
Educators are hoping to write a new chapter in the story of ChatGPT, and it’s one that sees limits on the program’s ability to do school work for students.
The internet has provided numerous tools students and others can take advantage, from auto-correct and grammar checks to google searches and Wikipedia.
The concern comes when the tool moves from being a push in the right direction to plagiarism. That's the debate sparked by ChatGPT.
"ChatGPT is what one of my colleagues calls ‘auto-correct on steroids,’" says Luke Stark.
Stark is a professor with Western University's Faculty of Information and Media Studies (FIMS). One of his research focuses is on the ethical and social impacts of technologies like artificial intelligence (AI). He says that, with just a few prompts, ChatGPT will scan the internet, collect information on a topic, and formulate an essay or other written work.
"We've already seen some cases at Western and across the country of people submitting essays produced by ChatGPT and claiming them as their own work,” says Stark. “This is, from my perspective, the textbook definition of plagiarism. Plagiarism is passing off somebody else’s work, somebody else’s words, as your own.”
Stark says there are ways for university professors and other educators to identify ChatGPT content and to curtail its use.
Institutions at all levels of the education spectrum are already taking steps to address the issue. The initial focus is on the identification of papers produced with AI.
