I have a lot of different feelings when it comes to artificial intelligence (AI) in general. On one hand, how cool is is that we’ve been able to create increasingly more complex intelligent computers? On the other hand, how scary is it that we’ve been able to create increasingly more complex intelligent computers?
I think, on a personal level, I think AI to be a bit of an existential nightmare, but when it comes to education, things are much more nuanced. I can absolutely see the challenges that the increasing availability of AI will inevitably bring to education: inability to distinguish original work from AI-generated work, autonomy of AI as a creator, ethical concerns, and the impossibility to “policing” such pervasive and well-camouflaged technology. While many educators are trying to fight back against AI, I don’t think that’s really worth it. I mean, AI is already unleashed upon the world – Pandora’s box has been opened, so to speak. I don’t think it’s really possible to keep AI out of education at this point and so the logical thing to do is adapt.
Technologies like ChatGPT are ultimately really neat and powerful tools that, if used correctly, could actually be used to an educational advantage. Now, I’m very far from an expert on the ins and outs of AI chat interphases, nor am I fully aware of the implications or dangers it could pose, but I am ultimately in favour of finding ways to use it for good. For example, helping students brainstorm ideas and then editing / re-writing them could be helpful in some instances. Or even just in helping students understand complex concepts or ideas – AI can take a wall of text or an impenetrable idea and really break it down for any audience. Allow me to demonstrate:
Here is a question I asked ChatGPT (note: all writing in red is generated by ChatGPT):
Me:
“Can you please explain black-body radiation in simple terms? I do not have any experience with physics.”
ChatGPT:
“Certainly! Imagine you have an object that can absorb all the light that falls on it, and it also emits light. This object is what scientists call a “black body.”
Now, when you heat up this black body, something interesting happens. As it gets hotter, it starts to glow. The color of the glow changes as the temperature increases. At lower temperatures, it might glow red, then as it gets hotter, it turns orange, yellow, white, and eventually blue if it’s extremely hot.
Black-body radiation is the electromagnetic radiation (including visible light) that is emitted by a black body when it’s heated. This phenomenon is essential in understanding how objects emit light based on their temperature. The higher the temperature, the shorter the wavelength of the emitted light.
This relationship is described by Planck’s law, named after physicist Max Planck, who first formulated it. Planck’s law helps explain the spectrum of light emitted by a black body at different temperatures.
In everyday terms, you can think of black-body radiation as the reason why a metal rod, for example, changes color as you heat it on a stove. It starts from red and gradually becomes brighter and changes to different colors as it gets hotter.”
While I had a vague idea of what black-body radiation is from a previous physics class, I admit, I feel like ChatGPT’s explanation of it was pretty comprehensive and accessible to the average person with or without any knowledge of physics.