Transformative Effects of ChatGPT On Modern Education
Transformative Effects of ChatGPT On Modern Education
Transformative Effects of ChatGPT On Modern Education
A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T
Keywords: ChatGPT, an AI-based chatbot, offers coherent and useful replies based on analysis of large volumes of data. In this
ChatGPT article, leading academics, scientists, distinguish researchers and engineers discuss the transformative effects of
Education ChatGPT on modern education. This research discusses ChatGPT capabilities and its use in the education sector,
IoT
identifies potential concerns and challenges. Our preliminary evaluation shows that ChatGPT perform differently
Academics
Chatbot
in different subject areas including finance, coding, maths, and general public queries. While ChatGPT has the
Artificial intelligence ability to help educators by creating instructional content, offering suggestions and acting as an online educator to
Machine learning learners by answering questions, transforming education through smartphones and IoT gadgets, and promoting
group work, there are clear drawbacks in its use, such as the possibility of producing inaccurate or false data and
circumventing duplicate content (plagiarism) detectors where originality is essential. The often reported “hal-
lucinations” within GenerativeAI in general, and also relevant for ChatGPT, can render its use of limited benefit
* Corresponding author. School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, Queen Mary University of London, London, E1 4NS, UK.
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (S.S. Gill), [email protected] (M. Xu), [email protected] (P. Patros), [email protected] (H. Wu), rupinderchem@
gmail.com (R. Kaur), [email protected] (K. Kaur), [email protected] (S. Fuller), [email protected] (M. Singh), priyansh.arora@
microsoft.com (P. Arora), [email protected] (A.K. Parlikad), [email protected] (V. Stankovski), [email protected] (A. Abraham), [email protected].
ac.in (S.K. Ghosh), [email protected] (H. Lutfiyya), [email protected] (S.S. Kanhere), [email protected] (R. Bahsoon), [email protected]
(O. Rana), [email protected] (S. Dustdar), [email protected] (R. Sakellariou), [email protected] (S. Uhlig), [email protected] (R. Buyya).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iotcps.2023.06.002
Received 18 May 2023; Received in revised form 11 June 2023; Accepted 18 June 2023
Available online 19 June 2023
2667-3452/© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
S.S. Gill et al. Internet of Things and Cyber-Physical Systems 4 (2024) 19–23
where accuracy is essential. What ChatGPT lacks is a stochastic measure to help provide sincere and sensitive
communication with its users. Academic regulations and evaluation practices used in educational institutions
need to be updated, should ChatGPT be used as a tool in education. To address the transformative effects of
ChatGPT on the learning environment, educating teachers and students alike about its capabilities and limitations
will be crucial.
1. Emerging Era of AI Chatbots and currently supports more than 100 million active users [4].
ChatGPT uses AI and Natural Language Processing (NLP) to respond
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming increasingly prevalent in to user input queries and generate answers that are human-like. It has
various sectors, including higher education. AI applications are becoming drawn international interest because of its efficacy in generating answers
crucial for colleges and universities, whether it be for personalised that are cogent, orderly and instructive. Notwithstanding its popularity,
learning, computerised assessment, smart educational systems, or sup- ChatGPT has created fresh difficulties and risks for education. There are
porting teaching staff. They offer support that results in reduced expenses concerns regarding the potential misuse of AI Generated Content (AIGC),
and enhanced learning results. Chatbots are AI-powered software appli- as it could be employed to generate academic tests and assignments for
cations that can mimic human conversational interactions [1]. They students and provide tailored responses to coursework questions and
function by assessing a conversation's context and coming up with an- assessments. As a result, a number of institutions have forbidden students
swers they think are appropriate. They can answer a variety of problems from using ChatGPT [27] – including a ban within an entire country.
since they have been taught using large linguistic datasets [2]. A wide Researchers [1,3–5] have examined the effects of ChatGPT on learning
range of educational organisations, from elementary and secondary and found that teachers were worried about using it in the classroom.
schools to universities and professional development programmes, can They voiced concerns that since ChatGPT can quickly produce appro-
benefit from using chatbots such as ChatGPT and Google Bard [3]. Their priate content, learners may utilise it for outsourcing their assignments
capacity to provide personalised education is one of their strongest [31]. Further, a number of issues have been identified, including copied
points. content, wrong replies and improper referencing (or no referencing at
This article addresses ChatGPT, an AI assistant chatbot [1], released all). Hence, it is crucial to carefully examine the impact of
by OpenAI [2], that has received significant public attention since its ChatGPT-assisted education to fully leverage its benefits while mitigating
introduction in November 2022 – amongst professionals, students, poli- any drawbacks. This is not a new phenomenon, as the launch of search
cymakers, and experts in the field of higher education. With both hope engines led to similar types of concerns. However, with a search engine, a
and prudence, there is still an open debate on the role of AI technologies content user can cross reference specific URLs that have been used to
and their appropriateness in education, and their influence on learning, achieve a particular outcome. In ChatGPT no specific references or URLs
students’ development, evaluation and assessment, and certification, are included in the generated text. Fig. 1 shows the benefits of ChatGPT
especially in human-led teaching. Whilst some educators and practi- to a diverse companies, software developers, and end users within the
tioners see opportunities that tools such as ChatGPT can facilitate education sector.
learning and development and have been calling for regulation, others
see threats for the core mission of education: development and training to 2. Transforming online education: the role and impact of
acquire knowledge and problem solving skills that could be applicable in ChatGPT
a wide range of domains and time varying contexts, fairness in assess-
ment, certification and meaningfulness of the education awards, and In the evolving landscape of online education, AI is proving to be a
making inequality in education worse [3]. Despite the technology divide, game-changer, with tools such as ChatGPT leading a radical trans-
ChatGPT has seen the greatest consumer growth since its introduction formation that ranges from assessment design to language learning.
Fig. 1. ChatGPT benefits a wide range of companies, software developers and end users within the education sector.
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S.S. Gill et al. Internet of Things and Cyber-Physical Systems 4 (2024) 19–23
Many e-learning platforms, including Coursera, use AI to detect common 3.1. IoT and ChatGPT: intertwined in the modern education
errors in their assignments [6]. Using ChatGPT to produce material, in-
structors can develop unique assessments and learning content, while Further, online education will benefit greatly from the confluence of
businesses (e.g., Course Hero) could see their paid homework assistance ChatGPT and Internet of Things (IoT), which is transforming how
models disrupted by the AI's cost-effective versatility [7]. AI chatbots can learners and teachers use new educational platforms for better teaching
assist students in honing their understanding of text by posing person- and learning [11]. Educators and gadgets may now have more natural
alised queries and offering comments on their responses. It can also be and simple conversations because to the integration of NLP into IoT [11].
used to enhance a person's critical and analytical abilities. Another The IoT and NLP are complementary advancements that make it possible
crucial aspect of ChatGPT is helping learners explore languages, enabling for ChatGPT as well as educators to have more natural, spontaneous
students to modify sentences, practise correct pronunciation and termi- conversations using online collaboration platforms (e.g. instant
nologies, grasp sentence structure and give real-time interpretations [8]. messaging apps and video conferencing systems) such as tablets,
Perhaps the most significant and controversial application of ChatGPT is e-readers, and smartphones.. In addition, ChatGPT enables higher-level
to produce written content in response to exam or essay questions. It as well as more complicated interactions with IoT devices, such as indi-
enables both educators and students to compose articles on any subject in vidualised activities like question answering and recommendation
response to prompts that are input to this software. Additionally ChatGPT generating for both students and educators [22]. To sum up, incorpo-
can offer suggestions for how to enhance grammatical structures, brevity, rating ChatGPT into IoT devices enables richer, more intelligent
or clearness of multiple drafts of the same essay – enabling users to get communication, eliminates the need for remote controllers, and enables
through barriers to writing and provide fresh viewpoints on their selected natural language communication.
subject.
The outcomes for both ethics and business are huge. Content authors 4. Higher education risks from ChatGPT
who use ChatGPT may reconsider paying steep membership fees for AI
creative solutions like Grammarly. According to the Gartner Hype Cycle, Researchers claim that there are issues with ChatGPT's reliability and
ChatGPT is presently at the “trough of disillusionment” stage, in which precision that make it difficult to employ in educational settings.
individuals lack hope. After research and refining, the technology enters ChatGPT could be biased or inaccurate because it was trained on such a
the “plateau of productivity”,1 when individual users and organisations big amount of data [16]. Further, bias may result from using studies that
recognise, welcome, and utilise it [10]. Nevertheless, OpenAI hopes to were predominantly done in nations with high income or controversial
improve effectiveness, expand its range of skills, and commercialise new books that did not appeal to everyone. Moreover, ChatGPT has little in-
advancements through its cooperation with Microsoft [2]. The release of formation and has not (yet) been fully upgraded with information after
ChatGPT4 in March 2023 has already generated debate since the tool 2021 [16,17]. Thus, especially for specific topics and current events, its
looks more precise, dependable, and responsive [11]. Adoption will rise comments could not be precise, dependable, or even outdated. Addi-
as a result of these upgrades and better interaction with different pro- tionally, ChatGPT may produce inaccurate or incorrect data. For learners
ductivity applications such as Slack, or Zoom using smartphones and IoT who depend on ChatGPT, any inaccuracies would not only disrupt the
gadgets [9,11,22]. As the AI-powered educational tools continue to learning process but could also jeopardise the integrity and credibility of
advance, embracing and understanding their use becomes crucial; the the educational experience, thus breaking the trust-bond that is funda-
advent of ChatGPT4 highlights this, setting the stage for more precise, mental to effective education.
reliable, and responsive education technology. The issue of AI-generated content being passed for original student
work has grown significantly. Investigations show that ChatGPT can get
3. Educating with ChatGPT past the usual plagiarism detection tools such as Turnitin by producing
information that appears to be unique. Students who utilised ChatGPT
As an initial foundation for developing course syllabi, instructional were more likely to plagiarise than those who did not, according to the
resources, and evaluation activities, ChatGPT might be a useful tool for literature [18,19]. This is a serious challenge to academic credibility and
educators. However, there are issues that need to be resolved about the validity and fair assessment of student learning [20]. Even where use of
produced content's authenticity [12]. A potential fix might be to build ChatGPT is permitted within assessment, learners who utilise it have an
training materials for course-specific bots using ChatGPT. For instance, unfair edge over other learners who have no opportunity to do so. More
utilising ChatGPT to support students' acquisition of the English language significantly, while using ChatGPT, teachers may be less able to assess
via taking the role of a “native-speaker” the student can converse with how students perform with accuracy, which makes it challenging to
[13]. After making sure the materials are accurate, teachers may ask monitor students' learning issues.
ChatGPT to transform them into a layout compatible with AI-based It is crucial to recognise the risks chatbots may bring in the context of
chatbots, giving students a customised and engaging learning experi- digital destitution and the technological divide, despite the fact that they
ence. Additionally, ChatGPT can improve techniques for active learning. have the ability to improve education [28]. Chatbots and other techno-
By way of illustration, flipped education can be employed, in which logical resources for learning could not be available for learners who do
learners are expected to read material before classes. This kind of edu- not have the ability to utilise a stable Internet connection or do not have
cation can allow for more participatory learning activities, including the materials necessary to engage in virtual classes. To combat this,
group discussions during class time. Nevertheless, in traditional flipped learning institutions need to take preventative steps to guarantee that all
classrooms, students can struggle with pre-class learning [14]. This learners have equitable access to digital tools like chatbots [29]. In
problem was made clear during the COVID-19 pandemic [26], when addition, it might be difficult to get learners to see that every individual
entirely online education resulted in subpar participation in the class- has the same opportunity to utilise technology which they have. Teachers
room and disinterest in peer sharing [7,9,15]. ChatGPT, as a virtual may play an important role in spreading this comprehension by including
instructor, may help learners with their web-based independent research discussions of digital inequality and the need for universal access in their
by responding to their inquiries and can improve collaboration by of- curricula [30]. Finally, colleges and universities can partner with local
fering suggestions for a debate framework and giving immediate groups that help learners who need assistance by providing them with
response. Internet connectivity or laptops to use for free.
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5. Treatment required immediately in reaction to the effects of publicly address ChatGPT in their classes and stress the value of academic
ChatGPT integrity in order to accomplish this aim [25].
The issues brought about by the advent of artificially intelligent 6. Future perspectives and potential challenges
material in educational assignments call for the updating of assessment
practices and institutional norms. Teachers should improve the structure In what follows, there are some key challenges for the foreseeable
of the exams/assignments by utilising interactive tools to lower the future that we have identified based on our comprehensive under-
possibility of copying. The inability of ChatGPT's initial version to handle standing of AI and expertise in the education sector:
photos and videos led to the absence of context, which made it more
difficult for learners who wanted to make use of it for illicit purposes. ● Limiting or forbidding ChatGPT won't solve the problem. It is pref-
Nevertheless, OpenAI's GPT-4, an enormous multimodal model, can erable to accept it and establish explicit guidelines for its application
analyse pictures [2,11]. Learners must be present physically (face to face in academic settings [4,11,19].
interaction) and in fact show their skills for these elements. AI-based ● The danger posed by ChatGPT to traditional evaluation methods is
writing identification technologies could be made accessible to educa- substantial [8,12,14]. Future evaluation models must, without a
tors at the organisational level. To define the limits of ChatGPT's doubt, place a greater emphasis on autonomous and reflective
engagement in students' learning, combating plagiarism rules must be thought, logical deduction, complex problem-solving that expects the
defined. use of AI tools, innovative thinking, and challenging and confirming
Reacting to ChatGPT's effects also requires teacher development and data inputs.
education for learners [21]. It is crucial to advise educators on how to ● More monitoring and openness will be required as ChatGPT develops
design out opportunities for plagiarism in assessment. Training can also in order to distinguish between information produced by humans and
be provided to spot ChatGPT use in learner tasks by utilising AI content AI [9,17]. Regulators are now far behind technical advancement, but
detection toolkits. Teachers should also receive training in order to the discussion sparked by all parties involved will undoubtedly lead
properly utilise ChatGPT in their lesson preparation and programme to legislative action.
evaluation. It is vital to educate learners about ChatGPT's drawbacks, ● In the context of prompt engineering, innovative methods are
including its reliance on skewed data, lack of current knowledge, and required to refine and optimise the queries posed to ChatGPT to
possibility for producing false or misleading findings [22]. The factual ensure that the responses are accurate, engaging and relevant.
veracity of the material offered by ChatGPT should thus be checked, ● Students with special needs may encounter additional barriers while
evaluated, and corroborated using other reliable sources, such as refer- attempting to use a chatbot [32]. Learners with intellectual disabil-
ence books, according to teachers [23]. Increasing students' knowledge ities might require extra help understanding and using chatbots,
of academic honesty guidelines and their comprehension of the penalties whereas learners with visual impairments may have trouble seeing
for misconduct in academia are also significant [24]. Educators should
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S.S. Gill et al. Internet of Things and Cyber-Physical Systems 4 (2024) 19–23
chatbot content. Instructors need to make sure learners who struggle Declaration of Competing interest
can get the assistance they need.
● The discussion expands far beyond the limited scope of the education The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
sector: in today's business world, learning and assessment are ongoing interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
processes. Parallel opportunities and challenges arise, such as when a the work reported in this paper.
software engineer is assessed and hired through a coding challenge or
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