The generative AI, ChatGPT, launched in November 2022, has continued to be a hot topic since its launch. ChatGPT has set a new milestone with more than 1 million users within five days of its release, 10 million in 40 days, and 100 million in two months. You may have used ChatGPT at least once. ChatGPT is not just about exchanging questions with users but has the characteristic of creating new things that users want. As such, various forms of generative AI have constantly emerged and are expanding their scope.
The use of generative AI
What is ‘generative AI’? Generative AI is literally a technology that can generate something. To generate new data that users want, it learns the pattern and algorithms of their input training data. That’s the reason why it is distinguished from existing AI; creating something new. And it also can simulate human behavior, thought processes, and even creativity. It is widely used because of its characteristics that anyone, including students or office workers, can use in connection with various services. Generative AI has played a significant role in many fields, which brings efficiency and convenience in work. First, generative AI basically can organize and summarize a large amount of information. Bing which is a search engine owned and operated by Microsoft summarizes main contents through generative AI. And Lilys AI, another generative AI, can summarize video too. Also, HeyGen AI, a video platform that streamlines the video creation process, can translate the language in the video instantly and reconstruct it into AI voice, reducing linguistic barriers. In addition, CLOVA CareCall, an AI chatbot, calls people to ask how they are doing, such as health and eating, and monitors for abnormal signs. It can prevent a single-person household, especially elderly people, from dying alone. Generative AI already has a huge impact on our lives that cannot be ignored.
Surely in the field of education, generative AI expands its influence. For example, GenQue, an AI-based educational content creation and management solution, facilitates the generation of reading passages and questions at customizable difficulty levels, covering elementary through high school education. If you enter the text content and select the question type you want, test questions are generated in seconds.
On the other hand, KEEwi-Learn supports students to complete their writing with feedback from generative AI. It provides feedback such as spelling and the correspondence of a sentence so that students can correct the text. Korea National University of Education also recognized the importance of generative AI and signed agreements with these companies. Moreover, there are generative AI which saves teachers making instructional materials such as Gamma, which automatically generates PPT designs as users input, and Google Autodraw, which convert hand drawings into illustrations. Teachers can also produce educational materials suitable for class in a short time than before, increasing productivity and work efficieny.
We can easily find generative AI in the classroom. According to KBS News, Yangun Elementary School in Busan uses it in writing class. Students write first on their ow and then use the aforementioned generative AI Gamma, compare the outline they wrote to that made by AI, and add or erase words. When quoting the text, they go through the process of checking whether AI's information is correct or not. In art class, when students write down a topic, a generative AI named Wrtn creates related images. Students complete their own drawings by referring to the images. One school teacher said that “generative AI has done a lot of things that I’d never even expected to do”.
The shadow of generative AI
As such, generative AI is generally used in various fields of society and education. It gradually becomes more influential. But there are many problems behind generative AI First, there is the fake news problem due to generative AI. Through generative AI, something that didn't happen can be created as an image, which can spread false information in society. A representative example is a photo of Pope Francis’ puffer jacket, which was a meme-baiting advertisement by Balenciaga.
Secondly, there is a concern that results by generative AI are biased. Generative AI learns the data by machine learning. We can’t forget the possibility that AI learns and internalizes biased data, which can result in spreading stereotypes and discrimination. Even when using generative AI in education, it is difficult to check whether the information is true. And it is difficult to know the latest information and sources, so students are likely to accept the wrong content as it is. Lastly, the copyright debate over generative AI is a constant hot issue. For example, the U.S. Copyright Office stipulates human creations as a prerequisite for copyright registration, while in China, AI-generated images were recognized as unique creations with individual intellectual investment. In situations where the use of generative AI cannot be prevented, the issue is whether to allow generative AI in students’ assignments. It is also questionabe whether plagiarism can be confirmed.
The direction in the era of generative AI
As generative AI changes our daily lives a lot, it is important to use generative AI properly. Currently, the Korea Communications Commission and the Ministry of Science and ICT(MSIT) plan to enact AI laws. The provincial offices of education nationwide are publishing guidelines for using generative AI such as the Incheon Metropolitan Office of Education’s ChatGPT Understanding and Teaching and Learning Guide.
What do we need? In a future society that coexists with generative AI, the ability to do more than what generative AI can do is necessary. Though knowledge is the foundation of education, we need to go beyond knowledge-oriented education and leap to ‘curious’ and ‘process-oriented’ education.
The ability to accurately express what you are curious about as a question, judge the accuracy of the answer, creatively reconstruct the data, and properly explain the meaning of the written data is important. That’s why we think about education that survives in the era of generative AI, not generative AI as a grade-improving tool in a fixed examination system. In order to adapt to a rapidly changing generative AI society, the power of humans to think for themselves is significant. The teacher's role is to set instructional goals and form a human bond. We can be compasses in the new era with human initiative.
(Source(in order) : Pixabay, Artificial Society, Twitter, Pixabay)