College Corner: ChatGPT won't necessarily help you get into the school of your choice
Artificial Intelligence. AI. Some say it’s a technological breakthrough to make our lives easier. Others believe it to be the beginning of the end, the start of the war against the machines. Think "Terminator" or "Transformers." Or even the disobedient HAL in "2001: A Space Odyssey."
Either scenario seems to be possible and science fiction writers are just waiting to say, “I told you so.”
AI as the new solution to everything
What is happening now, though, is the use of AI writing apps like ChatGPT that many people, especially teens, are using to make their written words sound like they are from the pen of the Bard.
The ramifications of this are already becoming reality. Businesses are using it to write letters to clients on any number of subjects. All they have to do is give the program certain key words, and it creates the entire letter. There are thousands of uses for the many variations of these apps. Some even create “art” that is used in advertising and decor.
But we are human, so some of us just have to use any new tech or toy to get into mischief. A friend of mine who is an instructor at a film school told me the faculty were warned at a meeting recently that there are companies out there courting students to use their products to do their homework, even beyond just some digital artwork. Complete composition of short scripts!
AI in some form has been around for years. Even Siri is a basic form of AI. As many have learned, the way that Siri works — as does any of these new AI apps — is when the consumer asks her a question, she surfs the web for the answer. This means that her answer to the question asked is only as good as the information available on the web. Siri is just much faster and more convenient at using Google.
The new AI apps like ChatGPT do essentially the same thing. When the student gives a parameter, the app searches the web for the info and puts it into sentences that at first glance seem very sophisticated.
AI in the college admissions process
This can come in very handy for college admissions application essays. Or can it?
One of the main purposes of the essay is not only to assess the potential candidate’s ability to write and express thoughts logically, but also to assess their passion for the subject they want to study and for higher education, in general.
Most of us remember when the calculator was invented. The fear was that students would no longer learn to add and subtract. After all, the calculator made that so easy. But the world soon discovered that before successfully using a calculator, the student had to understand the theory behind math to put the numbers into the machine in the right sequence and arrive at the right solution. In other words, understanding theory is necessary to build the equation that leads to the answer.
AI is not the answer, it’s only a tool
Much like the calculator, the AI apps provide a rather heartless essay, but the student needs to understand the subject and composition so that what they are left with is a) correct information and b) grammatically correct. Then they need to put themselves into it, the bit that is the soul of the piece.
This last part is key. If you, dear reader, have not figured out the most important problem with the essays written for college admissions or any coursework, let me give you the one key word: plagiarism.
When students turn in work that is not their own, that is plagiarism. What’s worse, when an AI turns in work, just about the whole essay is plagiarized from other websites. In other words, double plagiarized.
The future scientist or writer must understand that without knowing how to write or do math, no amount of artificial intelligence will replace good old human labor. This means that while letting AI proofread or research can be convenient and fast, we need to know all the basics so that we put our own thumbprint on everything we submit or send.
AI does not need to go to college
What does this mean for you or your student as they compose their college application essay? They are just plain more likely to gain admission to the college of their choice with a few errors, but a lot of heart and soul. AI does not want to go to college and it will show. But you do.
Dale Price is the founder and owner of Access College America, an Austin-based college planning agency.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: ChatGPT won't necessarily help you get into the college of your choice
