Generative AI in Education: Revolutionizing Learning with GPT Technology

The British philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote in 1945, “Man is born ignorant, not stupid. What makes him stupid is the educational system.”

Since then, many advanced countries have introduced tangible improvements to their education systems, leading to project-based learning, which requires students to conduct interviews, surveys, studies, and research collaboratively.

However, the public school system in New York City, which previously adopted this policy, changed its stance in May of last year, allowing teachers to use GPT chat when they deem it appropriate. To mitigate the risks of cheating and impersonation due to the use of GPT chat, OpenAI, the developer of GPT, launched an application called AI Text Classifier designed to allow anyone, including teachers, to copy and paste any text and determine whether it was written by artificial intelligence or humans.

However, this application was eventually discontinued due to its low accuracy rate. For example, it classified some texts written by humans, such as Shakespearean plays and the US Declaration of Independence, as produced by artificial intelligence.

Nevertheless, many thinkers and business leaders see generative AI, like GPT, as a revolutionary and highly positive technology in various fields, including education.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates believes that an AI-powered robot is better than an intelligent teacher in teaching reading and writing, as it can teach children to read and write in just 18 months instead of years. Additionally, the cost of education using an intelligent robot is much lower than that of human teachers, especially for individualized learning. AI education will not be limited to languages but will also include various subjects, such as mathematics.

To encourage teachers to use GPT in education, OpenAI released a blog in August titled “Teaching with AI” that provides examples for teachers on how to use GPT in their classrooms. It explains how it works, its limitations, the effectiveness of cheating detection software aimed at recognizing whether the text was written by humans or artificial intelligence, and bias detection methods.

Enthusiasts of using generative AI, such as GPT, in education highlight its advantages in seven main points:

Providing detailed education tailored to the individual needs of each student.
Offering private lessons and assistance with homework.
Assisting in language learning through conversations, explanations, and translations in multiple languages.
Helping students and researchers quickly find information, summarize articles, and create citations, allowing them to complete studies and research more quickly and efficiently.
Assisting students in improving their writing skills by providing stylistic and grammatical suggestions, helping them generate ideas and write essays and reports.
Helping teachers perform administrative tasks such as managing class schedules or answering common student queries.
Providing teachers with the ability to develop educational materials, create interactive lessons, and design tests and assignments.

To test the last point, I asked GPT to provide me with some math questions suitable for sixth-grade students, and it gave me several questions, one of which was: “A rectangle has a perimeter of 30 cm, and its length is three times its width. What is the length and width of this rectangle?” This seemed like a suitable question for this grade level.

Finally, many exaggerations are present today regarding the level of generative AI, such as GPT, and some compare it to what happened in 1956 when the information processing language (IPL) was invented. Some assumed it was a fundamental tool for developing artificial intelligence, which quickly proved untrue.

Others liken these exaggerations to what happened in 1966 when a primitive conversational program for psychotherapy called “Eliza” was launched. Some who tried it believed it was intelligent and thought like a human psychotherapist.

These exaggerations are interpreted as people unconsciously assuming that computer behavior is similar to human behavior, thus exaggerating the capabilities of artificial intelligence systems. This has been referred to as the Eliza Effect. Today, are we witnessing a repetition of past events?

Today, many exaggerations exist, whether in overestimating the capabilities of generative AI like GPT, underestimating them, or in the size of the risks associated with their use. However, it is practically clear that their impact is significant on education systems, as schools can no longer continue to operate in the old ways.

Generative AI in Education: Revolutionizing Learning with GPT Technology

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