Oxford students told to use AI to help write essays
Oxford students have been told to use artificial intelligence (AI) to help write essays.
Undergraduates studying Economics and Management were advised to use AI tools such as ChatGPT to help generate first drafts of essays before critiquing them.
Prof Steve New, who teaches a module on technology and operations management, told students that AI “should help you produce a much better essay than you would produce unaided”, if it was used “thoughtfully and critically”.
He told The Telegraph that the tutorial essays play no part in any formal assessment. After writing the essay using AI, the students spend an hour in a small tutorial group discussing their work with their tutor.
Artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT are capable of creating unique essays based on their understanding of billions of words and can mimic human conversation and language. Researchers have found that the technology is capable of passing doctors’ exams and writing scientific articles.
Students must fact check AI drafts
Participants on Oxford’s Economics and Management course were instructed to first use AI tools to prepare an initial answer to an essay question, before passing their drafts over to coursemates.
Students must then fact check their peer’s work, since the course notes that the tools are prone to making up facts and references, and may invoke citations that do not actually support the claims made.
Before submitting their work, the course directors asked students to include an “AI statement”, setting out which tools they used and how they used them.
In guidance to students, Prof New said that AI should “increase your ability to think hard about the subjects you discuss, and make you more confident in framing a clear and persuasive argument”.
He added: “But the document that emerges should be yours. You need to write stuff you will stand by. The AI can produce humdrum ‘some say this, some say that…meh’ essays in a fraction of a second; you should be producing compelling, tightly-argued, evidence-based prose that you believe in.”
The course notes that “AI might – without you realising – steer you towards particular intellectual or ideological positions”.
Students were warned that rules on referencing and plagiarism still applied. Any material, such as text or diagrams, from published sources needs to be “fully referenced according to standard bibliographic conventions”.
In a note on the course, it states that tutorial assignments have been adapted for the current academic year because the arrival of generative AI such as ChatGPT, Bard and Claude have “changed the environment in which we work” and, outside the exam room, AI tools “can greatly enhance your ability to generate essays”.
Universities teach how to be ‘AI literate’
The introduction of AI tools for assignments comes after the Russell Group of leading universities announced that it would teach students how to use AI without cheating earlier this year.
Universities signed up to a set of principles designed to ensure that students are “AI literate”, as part of a recognition that AI skills will be essential for future employers.
The Russell Group of 24 institutions said that the principles will “shape institution and course-level work to support the ethical and responsible use of generative AI, new technology and software like ChatGPT”. Staff will also be trained to use AI when they are teaching.
Examples cited by universities of how AI technology can be used on campus include for helping students develop writing skills, delivering personalised assessment and feedback, and creating case studies and simulations to help students better understand complex ideas and topics.
In February, Oxford University announced that new AI tools such as ChatGPT have the potential to “change the way we teach and learn in many positive ways”. However, the university told students that the unauthorised use of AI tools in exams and other assessed work “is a serious disciplinary offence”.
Cambridge University said earlier this year that it will allow students to use ChatGPT as long as it is not used to write coursework or exams.
The university said that while the technology “has not been banned” students must still “be the authors of their own work” or risk being investigated for academic misconduct.
