Teachers are warned to stop attempting to root out AI homework cheats with software
- Two-thirds of secondary school students now use AI such as chatbot ChatGPT
- To try to stop them, teaching staff run essays through AI detection software
Teachers have been told to stop using computer software as a way of catching pupils who use the AI to write their homework.
The warning comes amid fears the technology could discriminate against ethnic-minority children as some AI detection software incorrectly flags up writing by students with English as a second language more often than that by native English speakers.
Two-thirds of secondary school students now use AI such as chatbot ChatGPT to write or edit homework, according to a recent survey. To try to stop them, some teaching staff run essays through AI detection software.
But new guidance from the Teacher Development Trust points to the fact that the technology is ‘likely to be discriminatory’. It also suggests that attempts at setting ‘AI-proof’ homework tasks could be pointless due to the speed technology is advancing.
‘It’s possible that in three to six months, new tools make even the new homework tasks doable with AI,’ says the advice, which is backed by the Confederation of School Trusts, the National Association of Head Teachers and the Association of School and College Leaders.
Two-thirds of secondary school students now use AI such as chatbot ChatGPT to write or edit homework, according to a recent survey
But new guidance from the Teacher Development Trust points to the fact that the technology is ‘likely to be discriminatory’. It also suggests that attempts at setting ‘AI-proof’ homework tasks could be pointless due to the speed technology is advancing
The guide, called Understanding AI for School, says teachers should instead ‘raise awareness’ about the consequences of cheating.
David Weston, chief executive of the Teacher Development Trust, said: ‘This isn’t something where you can say ‘we don’t want it in our school’ because it is already in your school.’
The Department for Education issued guidance earlier this year saying exam course work should be completed in class rather than at home to prevent AI cheating.
It also advised schools to review homework policies to ‘account for the availability of generative AI’.Education Secretary Gillian Keegan has extolled the benefits of AI in schools.
She has described it as a ‘gamechanger’ and suggested that it should be harnessed by teachers to write lesson plans and mark work.
But last night world-renowned educationist Sir Anthony Seldon, head of public school Epsom College, told The Mail on Sunday that misuse of AI posed a ‘serious risk’, adding: ‘It is up there with performance drugs [in sport] in terms of its ability to encourage cheating.
‘In fact, it’s worse, because you can test for drugs. It is almost impossible to detect use of AI.’
Sir Anthony, 70, said programmes such as ChatGPT could help teachers prepare and assess work, but warned that the risks needed to be understood. He has convened a panel of experts to examine the impact of AI on education.
It will launch a website next month to give advice to schools.
‘It’s like drugs in sport in encouraging cheating’
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