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That's an over simplification. If students are using chatgpt to generate code that they themselves don't understand, and then submitting that whole cloth as th

by jmuguy 3y ago

That's an over simplification. If students are using chatgpt to generate code that they themselves don't understand, and then submitting that whole cloth as their work, they're cheating - full stop. They're not using chatgpt as a tool in this case, any more than searching stack overflow and copying answers without understanding them is a tool. The calculator comparison is interesting - calculators can't be wrong. And if they can be, we're kind of screwed. Like NASA screwed when someone mixed up imperial and metric measurements. ChatGPT can and will be wrong because it doesn't actually know what its giving back to you. Until its code can be 100% correct, which I don't think is possible, it cannot be used as a simple tool that any one can use to generate code without actually knowing how the code it generates works. So yes - ultimately these students are cheating. Maybe it feels to them like they've just found a shortcut to being a developer, they haven't.

JohnFen 3y ago
> calculators can't be wrong. Sure they can. There are numerous discussions around the net about this fact, but here is a reasonable high-level overview. https://www.thetechedvocate.org/can-a-calculator-be-wrong/ https://www.thetechedvocate.org/can-a-calculator-be-wrong/
- jmuguy 3y ago
  They can't be wrong in the way that LLMs can be, which is the exact reason that using them for this comparison falls apart - but yes if we're splitting hairs they can be wrong in the same way that javascript is wrong when you ask it to add two floats together.
illiac786 3y ago
Let’s not forget calculators are doing math, the one thing which is binary right/wrong. Generative AI is doing much more. But I agree that copy-pasting ChatGPT output without remotely understanding it is cheating. Yes ChatGPT can do the exercise, but the output produced in the exercise is not the point, the point is assimilating knowledge which helps you move on to tasks AI cannot do. In this regard these students are cheating themselves (and the ones who tried not to cheat).

by jmuguy 3y ago

JohnFen 3y ago

> calculators can't be wrong. Sure they can. There are numerous discussions around the net about this fact, but here is a reasonable high-level overview. https://www.thetechedvocate.org/can-a-calculator-be-wrong/ https://www.thetechedvocate.org/can-a-calculator-be-wrong/

jmuguy 3y ago
They can't be wrong in the way that LLMs can be, which is the exact reason that using them for this comparison falls apart - but yes if we're splitting hairs they can be wrong in the same way that javascript is wrong when you ask it to add two floats together.

illiac786 3y ago

Let’s not forget calculators are doing math, the one thing which is binary right/wrong. Generative AI is doing much more. But I agree that copy-pasting ChatGPT output without remotely understanding it is cheating. Yes ChatGPT can do the exercise, but the output produced in the exercise is not the point, the point is assimilating knowledge which helps you move on to tasks AI cannot do. In this regard these students are cheating themselves (and the ones who tried not to cheat).