AI checking software was one tool teachers could use, but Willett said they were not always reliable. Photo: 123rf
One tech leader at an Auckland school says teachers need to be wary of relying on AI checking tools to tell if students are using programs like ChatGPT to write assignments.
Selwyn College digitech leader Kit Willett said AI checking programs were not always a reliable way to know if a student had used AI for an assignment.
Teachers needed to compare students' assignments with what they had been producing in class, as well as checking their citations, Willett said.
"If I have a student who I have never seen them write something, and they produce an essay, that is problematic territory because I have no way of proving whether or not they wrote that work themself."
ChatGPT is a widely used chatbot trained on a wide array of information that can produce content in a matter of seconds. It can be used for anything from answering a simple question to writing an entire essay.
For example, here is part of an essay the program was asked to write about The Treaty of Waitangi:
"The Treaty of Waitangi has had a profound and lasting impact on New Zealand's political, legal, and social systems. It established a legal framework for the governance of the country and acknowledged Māori as equal partners in the nation-building process.
"However, the treaty's implementation has been complex and marked by challenges, including conflicting interpretations, breaches, and grievances arising from the loss of land, resources, and cultural heritage."
With this technology at students' fingertips, teachers have the difficult task of figuring out if a student has used it and tried to pass it off as their own work.
AI checking software was one tool teachers could use, but Willett said they were not always reliable.
"I find them useful as supplementary evidence - I've fed stuff in that I have written personally and it has come back saying that AI has written it."
It was likely schools would move to mostly hand-written or oral assessments in the future, Willett said.
Selwyn College year 12 student Matt Poppelwell said a few of his peers had tried to pass off work written by ChatGPT as their own.
"I think some people kind of go for that because of how easy it could be and how easy it makes getting work done."
These students were caught and given 'not achieved' grades, Poppelwell said.
But the tech could be used in positive ways too.
"Even today, my science teacher used it just on the board and started using ChatGPT to figure out questions and get one-paragraph answers to things, just to show how you can get an AI chatbot to help you do research or get work done."
He had some concerns about the technology, but ultimately thought it would be a good thing.
"There's worries for it obviously, we've all seen Terminator'," he laughed. "There's always dangers when giving up a portion of your control to a computer, but in the name of efficiency it's going to do more good than bad."
Willett, said it was important to teach students about the line between using the technology in a constructive way and using it for plagiarism.