Quantcast
ZME Science
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Features
    Menu
    Natural Sciences
    Health
    History & Humanities
    Space & Astronomy
    Technology
    Culture
    Resources
    Natural Sciences

    Physics

    • Matter and Energy
    • Quantum Mechanics
    • Thermodynamics

    Chemistry

    • Periodic Table
    • Applied Chemistry
    • Materials
    • Physical Chemistry

    Biology

    • Anatomy
    • Biochemistry
    • Ecology
    • Genetics
    • Microbiology
    • Plants and Fungi

    Geology and Paleontology

    • Planet Earth
    • Earth Dynamics
    • Rocks and Minerals
    • Volcanoes
    • Dinosaurs
    • Fossils

    Animals

    • Mammals
    • Birds
    • Fish
    • Reptiles
    • Amphibians
    • Invertebrates
    • Pets
    • Conservation
    • Animals Facts

    Climate and Weather

    • Climate Change
    • Weather and Atmosphere

    Geography

    Mathematics

    Health
    • Drugs
    • Diseases and Conditions
    • Human Body
    • Mind and Brain
    • Food and Nutrition
    • Wellness
    History & Humanities
    • Anthropology
    • Archaeology
    • Economics
    • History
    • People
    • Sociology
    Space & Astronomy
    • The Solar System
    • The Sun
    • The Moon
    • Planets
    • Asteroids, Meteors and Comets
    • Astronomy
    • Astrophysics
    • Cosmology
    • Exoplanets and Alien Life
    • Spaceflight and Exploration
    Technology
    • Computer Science & IT
    • Engineering
    • Inventions
    • Sustainability
    • Renewable Energy
    • Green Living
    Culture
    • Culture and Society
    • Bizarre Stories
    • Lifestyle
    • Art and Music
    • Gaming
    • Books
    • Movies and Shows
    Resources
    • How To
    • Science Careers
    • Metascience
    • Fringe Science
    • Science Experiments
    • School and Study
    • Natural Sciences
    • Health
    • History and Humanities
    • Space & Astronomy
    • Culture
    • Technology
    • Resources
  • Reviews
  • More
    • Agriculture
    • Anthropology
    • Biology
    • Chemistry
    • Electronics
    • Geology
    • History
    • Mathematics
    • Nanotechnology
    • Economics
    • Paleontology
    • Physics
    • Psychology
    • Robotics
  • About Us
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science

No Result
View All Result
ZME Science

Home → Tech

Exam period is coming. Can students pass with ChatGPT?

Universities say they're preparing, but AI is remarkable able to pass.

Mihai Andrei by Mihai Andrei
May 14, 2023
in Tech
Edited and reviewed by Tibi Puiu

Take a walk on any university campus and you’re bound to hear ‘ChatGPT’ popping up. The generative AI has already taken the world by storm with its ability to write well-crafted essays on pretty much anything. Students, of course, were bound to take note of it.

Not only are students savvier and keener on adopting new technology but ChatGPT and its peers provide services that are extremely interesting to someone looking to, say, pass an exam or write an essay. Universities have taken note of this as well, and they have tried to prepare. However, they’re unlikely to succeed.

a star wars bot
Our bots aren’t quite at Star Wars level yet. But we’re getting there. Image credits: Kenny Eliason.

The bots are good

In a small survey, over half of surveyed students said they believe using ChatGPT for school is cheating — which remarkably, leaves a large part of students who believe it isn’t. Presumably, even among those who believe it is cheating, there will be a significant proportion who still try to use it nonetheless.

Under these circumstances, with exam seam season upon us, student credit cards may soon find a new recurring expense. The (arguably) best text generative AI, GPT-4, costs $20 a month — and it’s significantly better than the free version of ChatGPT-3.5. It can output essays, answer complex questions — heck, it basically passed the US medical licensing exam.

But can it crack university exams? Some professors are not really convinced.

The BBC spoke to Academics at the University of Bath, and according to them, AIs have mixed results when it comes to passing the university’s exams.

“Our first question was, ‘Could this be used by students to answer our assessment questions?'” James Fern says of ChatGPT. “Multiple choice questions, for example, it will handle those very well. We definitely were not expecting it to do as well as it did… it was getting close to 100% correct.”

But when it came to more complex questions, it didn’t fare so well. Its responses were too simple, it offered no sources, it gave no evidence, and lacked the critical skills that you’d expect from a university student. The answers seemed to be very good on the surface, but there wasn’t much substance to them. Also, the AIs seem to make up a lot of things.

“They look perfect – they’ve got the right names of authors, they’ve got the right names of journals, the titles all sound very sensible – they just don’t exist,” James says. “If you’re not aware of how large language models work, you would be very easily fooled into thinking that these are genuine references.”

However, it seems to depend a lot on the type of exam you ask it to pass.

In a new study, researchers describe how the AI chatbot passed four law exams at the University of Minnesota and another exam at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business,

The powerful new AI chatbot tool recently passed law exams in four courses according to professors at the schools.

“Over 95 multiple choice questions and 12 essay questions, ChatGPT performed on average at the level of a C+ student, achieving a low but passing grade in all four courses.”

Cheating, exams, and skillsets

students learning
Image credits: Annie Spratt.

But it’s not all cheating. For students, AI is a major tool that’s bound to be an asset when they reach the job market. In fact, in the UK, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said in a recent speech that AI was “making a difference in schools and universities already”, and suggested it could help school teachers with lesson plans and marking. New advice from Quality Assurance Agency, which reviews standards at UK universities, urges universities to equip students with AI skillsets.

Some lecturers are already implementing this into their courses, instructing students to use AI for various tasks. But it’s important that students use AI as a tool that fits their own critical thinking — not the other way around.

“It’s important to stress that this is an assistive tool: its primary value is that it can transform the structure and form of text while maintaining and stabilizing meaning. Educators should be mindful of this and highlight its limitations as a source of knowledge,” says Steve Watson, a University of Cambridge academic and the co-convener of the Faculty’s Knowledge, Power and Politics research cluster.

But these are still somewhat isolated cases. Ultimately, universities as a whole are not ready to deal with both the threats and the opportunities that AIs like ChatGPT and GPT-4 are bringing. The fears of cheating on homework and exams are real, but the potential of these AIs as educational tools can outweigh the risks.

As it so often happens, it’s a case of technology outpacing society. Almost overnight, we’ve been handed these amazing tools and aren’t quite sure what to do with them. Hopefully, universities, students, and society will figure that out soon.

Was this helpful?
Thanks for your feedback!
Related posts:
  1. Got an exam coming up? Better start sketching
  2. ChatGPT is almost good enough to become a doctor. What does it mean for AI and for doctors?
  3. Book Review “Physics on your feet: Berkeley Graduate Exam Questions”
  4. A Chinese AI passed the national medical licensing exam, so technically it’s a doctor
  5. Google shows off ChatGPT-like bot that turns hums and text into music

ADVERTISEMENT
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Features
  • Reviews
  • More
  • About Us

© 2007-2021 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Features
    • Natural Sciences
    • Health
    • History and Humanities
    • Space & Astronomy
    • Culture
    • Technology
    • Resources
  • Reviews
  • More
    • Agriculture
    • Anthropology
    • Biology
    • Chemistry
    • Electronics
    • Geology
    • History
    • Mathematics
    • Nanotechnology
    • Economics
    • Paleontology
    • Physics
    • Psychology
    • Robotics
  • About Us
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact

© 2007-2021 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.

Don’t you want to get smarter every day?

YES, sign me up!

Over 35,000 subscribers can’t be wrong. Don’t worry, we never spam. By signing up you agree to our privacy policy.

✕
ZME Science News

FREE
VIEW