The good, the bad and the possible loss of humanity
Artificial intelligence was the topic of discussion recently between Kevin Hallinan, a professor in the department of mechanical and aerospace engineering, and Andrew Rettig, a lecturer in geology, at a time when AI interfaces like ChatGPT and AI-powered search engines like Bing are in the news. In essence, AI is the science of training machines to imitate or reproduce human tasks with the goal of learning, reasoning, self-correcting and creating. Both agree it can assist in areas from economics to medicine, but it could also cause social and economic chaos, from loss of jobs to criminal activity. In conversations about AI’s role in education, they point to the Marianist tenet of adaptation and change as a signal to embrace the possibilities — while being aware there will be significant pitfalls to avoid.
Andrew Rettig: Cultural historians define eras through technology because that technology is significantly altering society and culture. I think we are in the era of artificial intelligence. Like the past inventions and technologies, there is a bit of resistance or cultural lag. Resistance is normal, and it’s healthy to be cautious. Ultimately, we need to embrace the advancement of AI, but be responsible.
Kevin Hallinan: I talked to a UD alumnus who now works for Google, and he is a major hiring manager. He made the comment to me that he wouldn’t hire someone who didn’t know how to use ChatGPT right now. If they are not using it, then they aren’t curious about the world. He also sees it as an amazing productivity tool.
AR: If professors and faculty aren’t starting to think about incorporating ChatGPT — if they are resisting it — then institutions need to start thinking about moving on from them. It just is such a good assistant in the classroom. Students are engaged in getting answers and help from interacting with it instead of me just giving a lecture. I can instead walk around the classroom and be more interactive with students. To me, ignoring that or being completely fearful of that isn’t smart. I always want to advocate for change and progression.
KH: I’m sure Andrew shares this perception: There’s cheating when we make it easy to cheat. There’s no cheating when you are asking students to think, to create new knowledge instead of simply regurgitating what we know. I have used ChatGPT to grade students’ work, and it has enhanced learning experiences for students.
My first test was to have it evaluate written and data assignments. I provided to ChatGPT all of my students’ responses in a rubric for grading. It scored every one of the students according to the rubric and offered strengths and weaknesses. To be frank, it did it better than me and with way more detail than I could have ever done for each student — and in a tenth of the time. My students are now using it to write code. They are asking it to review research and, to be honest, it is much better than Google.
AR: I never before had the confidence to do my own textbook. But now I am using ChatGPT to work next to me assisting with formatting, organization, flow and connectivity on my Internet of Things textbook that is coming out in 2024.
KH: I think it changes what we need to know and what we need to excel at. Education has to be more strongly about creating, improving human capabilities, and building new knowledge and content. ChatGPT can help us do all of that. The notion that students can only learn via a lecture and not from ChatGPT is laughable.
AR: Kahn Academy (an online educational tool) assists grade school and high school students. They’ve incorporated ChatGPT-4 to help. It will guide students through challenging problems. There is a video you can watch of this, and it makes you reconsider our academic institutions at every level. This AI can perform just as good as that teacher who is going to be right over their shoulders. I am going to have my 8-year-old daughter at the academy this summer instead of going to some of these camps that are supposed to assist with
academics.
KH: (laughing) Don’t forget she needs to go out and play!
AR: Right! We got all that covered. She’s at that age where she thinks she needs someone over her shoulder to learn, and we want to try this.
KH: In a Catholic, Marianist education, the ability to adapt and change is one of the central tenets. I don’t think we can be true to that tradition if this technology isn’t incorporated into our learning and teaching. Elon Musk and others are saying you must slow this down, but who in the world is going to slow it down? Nobody. If one government slows it down, then another one isn’t and then you are at a competitive disadvantage.
AR: There is an ongoing discussion that AI will replace some jobs. Workers in some industries like manufacturing and agriculture and industrial areas might be affected heavily due to AI. Demand for workers, especially in robotics and software engineering, are expected to rise thanks to AI.
KH: AI models such as Chat GPT-4 have raised security concerns as groups like Chat-Chaos are advertising that they are “empowering GPT with internet and memory to destroy humanity.” It scares me that one group is asking a different AI how to destroy humanity and wipe humanity off the planet. No matter how excited I am, if I could turn off AI now I would. I just know we can’t.