Recently, it is the peak period for college students to submit course papers, conduct graduation thesis defense and review. The investigation by the reporter of "Xinhua Viewpoint" found that some college students are quietly using AI (artificial intelligence) writing software such as ChatGPT to write papers, or use AI to assist paper writing, such as listing outlines, polishing language, and reducing repetition rates.
Does AI writing software contribute to academic fraud? Should it be left alone?
AI software ghostwrites papers
Cheng Guangyu (pseudonym), a junior student at a university in Beijing, has to submit four course papers this semester, each of which requires about 3,000 words. Cheng Guangyu did not spend time reading literature, sorting, excerpting, and writing, staying up all night before handing in his homework and using ChatGPT to complete the paper.
"I was worried about whether I could finish it at first, but I gave ChatGPT a general direction, which listed the outline of the paper, automatically continued it, and wrote much better than me." Cheng Guangyu wrote 4 papers in one night, and submitted them to the teacher after simple revision.
The reporter learned in some university surveys that some college students currently use ChatGPT to complete coursework, final papers and even bachelor's or master's theses. "The threshold for undergraduate thesis is low, and I don't have much scientific research ability. Many people's undergraduate theses are cobbled together online, and now it is more convenient for artificial intelligence to complete. Qiao Yifan (pseudonym), a senior at a university in Wuhan, said.
From outlining and writing parts of content to polishing language and reducing repetition, AI writing software can be used in all aspects of essay writing. However, a college student in a university in Hunan Province who has used AI writing software believes that the effect of using AI software to modify and polish articles is not bad, but if it is used to do substantive research and explain innovative views, it is not appropriate.
The reporter's interview found that AI writing software similar to ChatGPT is not uncommon in China. For example, Zhichuang AI, secret tower writing cat, drawing fast writing, etc., generally support article and paper writing. In addition, on websites such as Zhihu and Xiaohongshu, articles that teach how to use AI software to write papers are everywhere. In the experience sharing, some netizens said: "The teacher can't see it at all", "praised the AI paper well-written", "gave me the excellent paper".
During the interview, some college teachers also found the characteristics of AI papers. When reviewing an undergraduate thesis, a teacher majoring in international politics at a university in Jilin Province found that his essay on Japanese culture was biased, and the language was blunt and lengthy, and the content was empty. Under questioning by the teacher, the student admitted that the paper was written in ChatGPT.
In addition, some papers written with AI software are full of errors. "If you carefully verify, you will find that the links to the papers cited cannot be opened, the author's name cannot be searched, the publication time, journal, number of pages, SCI partition and other content of the paper are all fake, and even some historical events involved are made out of nothing." He Shiming, associate professor at the School of Computer and Communication Engineering of Changsha University of Science and Technology, said.
"Facilitates scientific research" or "promotes cheating"?
Can I use ChatGPT to aid essay writing? Many university teachers have controversy over this, both in support of users and in resolute opposition and demanding strict prohibition.
It is understood that some foreign universities have clearly issued regulations prohibiting the use of ChatGPT to write papers. In China, academic journals such as Jinan Journal (Philosophy and Social Sciences Edition) and Journal of Tianjin Normal University (Basic Education Edition) have successively issued instructions on the use of artificial intelligence writing tools, indicating that if authors use relevant tools in paper creation, they should explain the degree of use in detail in the article.
For research purposes, Yang Zhiping, a professor at Northeast Normal University's School of Marxism, tried to use AI writing software. He found that in order for AI to provide the right ideas, it needs to constantly "feed" the corpus to the AI. In the questions and answers with AI, the originally vague research ideas have gradually become clear. "It's like exchanging ideas with an expert with encyclopedic knowledge, and through the collision of ideas, new academic ideas can be inspired." Yang Zhiping said.
"AI writing software, like search tools such as Google and Baidu, will always cause panic when it first appears." Yao Yuchun, dean of the Institute of Social Sciences at Jilin University, said that at the end of the day, AI writing software is still a tool, a product of science and technology, and needs to be viewed dialectically. If students only use it for limited purposes, such as searching for literature, listing outlines, organizing ideas, etc., it is understandable and cannot be banned altogether.
Fu Weidong, a professor at the Department of Artificial Intelligence Education at Central China Normal University, believes that whether it is manual writing or AI writing, according to the existing academic paper specifications, as long as it exceeds the prescribed repetition rate, it should be regarded as academic misconduct. In addition, AI writing is based on the retrieval and processing of existing knowledge, and sentence duplication or plagiarism of ideas is inevitable, and disputes over intellectual property rights, portrait rights and other aspects will inevitably be involved, and should be strictly regulated.
A university teacher in Hunan Province worries that if students are allowed to use AI to write, it will not help cultivate students' scientific research ability. In the long run, it is easy for students to develop inertia and form a bad academic atmosphere.
In addition, the information security problems that AI software may pose are also of concern. Li Huilai, a professor at Jilin University's School of Artificial Intelligence, said that some European countries have to "block" ChatGPT due to data security issues because of the hidden danger of "collecting, using and disclosing personal information without consent" when they capture data. Li Huilai pointed out that when domestic students use ChatGPT, it may cause abuse of domestic scientific research results, and there are potential data security risks.
Actively respond to the academic challenges brought about by AI technology
Some industry experts believe that, like search tools, AI as a technology is difficult to stop. Standards for the application of AI writing tools should be formulated as soon as possible to standardize the scope of use; At the same time, it will change the traditional assessment mechanism of universities for students, and provide AI writing detection tools for researchers. In addition, it is necessary to strengthen independent research and development in the field of artificial intelligence and master core technologies.
Xiong Bingqi, president of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, believes that AI writing software is difficult to ban, and we should find a way to "put the devil in a bottle" and clarify the scope and extent of use of AI writing tools. "Instead of avoiding it, it's better to face it squarely. Colleges and universities can even offer public courses that use AI writing tools that explicitly teach students about the norms, methods, and academic ethics. ”
He Shiming believes that the plagiarism checking software used by universities has become difficult to cope with AI writing. At present, universities and academic journals lack special software to detect AI writing, and it is inevitable to "hang a leak" by relying on human eye recognition alone. It is hoped that relevant domestic institutions will develop software to identify AI writing and provide universities with a more secure and reliable anti-academic fraud system.
In order to avoid the impact of AI writing, some foreign universities are reducing the open-ended homework completed after class and placing more emphasis on classwork, handwritten essays, group assignments and oral examinations.
Xie Di, associate professor of the School of Public Administration of Hubei University, suggested that the education department's evaluation orientation of students' papers should pay more attention to students' awareness of problems, observe, understand and analyze nature in society, and increase the proportion of scoring of experiments, research and other content, rather than overemphasizing form.
ChatGPT has powerful features that have the potential to bring about a new technological revolution. Li Huilai believes that China should strengthen the research and development of artificial intelligence. At present, some domestic companies are also developing similar products, but they are still in the early stage and cannot form a strong competition with ChatGPT.
"It is necessary to use the window period to accelerate the development of systems such as Chinese AI applications and AI paper detection, and strengthen the independent research and development of core technologies of artificial intelligence." Fu Weidong said.
Column editor-in-chief: Zhang Wu Text editor: Fang Ying Title picture source: Shangguan title picture Photo editor: Zhu Jun
Source: Author: Xinhua News Agency, Li Shuangxi, Li Wei, Xie Ying
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