When asked, ChatGPT will explain that it is an AI-based conversational agent developed by OpenAI. It is part of the Generative Pretrained Transformer (GPT) series of language models. If asked to explain what it is to a child, it says:
ChatGPT is like having a very smart and friendly robot friend that you can talk to! It understands what you say to it, just like when you talk to your parents or friends. When you ask it questions or tell it things, it uses its super brain to come up with answers and replies back to you. It can even help you with your homework or tell you funny stories! It's like having a clever buddy who knows a lot about everything and is always there to talk to you and have fun!
Interaction model
ChatGPT interacts with users through prompts. Users enter conversational queries into the input box, and ChatGPT will reply in a human-sounding way.
Training data
ChatGPT gets its information from training data, which is gathered from scraping the Internet and potentially other data explicitly fed to it.
Benefits
As explained, ChatGPT behaves like a human assistant or a friend. Thus, it can perform a search on the user’s behalf, collate and summarise information, and create things from existing sources. It can also understand natural language, allowing users to be very specific with what kind of response they want, what level of response they are looking for, and other human-level specifications they would give to an assistant.
It provides several new features, such as:
- A generator for Wikipedia-style information on demand, to any question users might have, at any expertise level.
- A checker for whether a summary of a concept is correct.
- A content creator for any text-based content (poetry, essays, code).
The results are not always completely correct. The way ChatGPT produces results may feel similar to obtaining content from a very good – but not expert – teaching or research assistant.
Limitations
ChatGPT requires the creation of an account to access. The free version uses ChatGPT 3.5, while the paid version uses ChatGPT4.
Visit: https://chat.openai.com/
More Resources
Academic Integrity at UBC thinks through the impacts and implications of ChatGPT in teaching and learning.
Education’s Canvas Walkthrough of the Unesco guide.
Slides from Dr. Torrey Trust from the University of Massachusetts Amherst: He talks about what ChatGPT is, what it can do and can’t do (yet), and provides ideas for assessment design as well as many other useful resources.
The Sentient Syllabus Project, by Boris Steipe and others: Includes suggestions for learning objectives, learning activities, and syllabus language in an era of generative AI. It presents three principles that faculty may wish to share with students: “(1) An AI cannot pass this course; (2) AI contributions must be attributed and true; (3) The use of AI tools should be open and documented.”
AI Text Generators and Teaching Writing: Starting Points for Inquiry: A set of frequently-updated resources and links created by Anna Mills, hosted through the Writing Across the Curriculum Clearinghouse.
Generative Artificial Intelligence Technologies and Teaching and Learning, from Monash University: suggestions for how to talk with students about generative AI, sample language for class guidelines around AI use, suggestions for assessment design, and more.
Teaching Writing in the Age of AI: A series of five posts by Leon Furze on topics such as academic integrity, suggestions for assignment design for those that teach writing, and more. The link goes to the final post, which has links to the first four as well.
Quick Start Guide to AI and Writing: A list of frequently-updated resources on various topics, from a Modern Language Association & Conference on College Composition and Communication joint task force on writing and AI.