{"id":12144,"date":"2023-06-12T09:00:34","date_gmt":"2023-06-12T13:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=12144"},"modified":"2023-10-11T15:29:04","modified_gmt":"2023-10-11T19:29:04","slug":"ai-has-entered-the-chat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=12144","title":{"rendered":"AI has entered the chat"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">T<\/span>he first paragraph <span class=\"s2\">of any <\/span>story is meant to beckon you into reading the rest. So how should I start this one?<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">I could tell you about the 14 suspiciously similar papers that students submitted to Professor James Stacey Taylor\u2019s philosophy classes soon after the debut of ChatGPT. Or about how Professor Sejong Yoon checked to see if one of the assignments in his advanced class on artificial intelligence was challenging enough by first asking the chatbot to complete it. Or about the syllabus that Professor John Kuiphoff \u201904 asked it to write for one of his classes in the design and creative technology department.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">Or maybe, since Kuiphoff finds ChatGPT so useful that he always keeps it open on his computer screen, I could ask him to ask its opinion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cWhat should the first paragraph of this article be?\u201d Kuiphoff types. And this is what ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence tool, answers:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"p1\"><em>\u201cArtificial intelligence is transforming the landscape of higher education, and The College of New Jersey is proactively embracing this technological revolution. By adopting a comprehensive and forward-looking approach, TCNJ aims to maximize AI\u2019s potential across various disciplines, fostering interdisciplinary collaborations, innovation, and enhanced learning experiences.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"p1\">It goes on for another long and unenlightening sentence, in the voice of a confident but unprepared student\u00a0padding a term paper with buzzwords and platitudes and trying to hit a page count by enlarging the typeface and narrowing the margins.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cEverything feels a little bit like eating at Applebee\u2019s,\u201d says Kuiphoff about the chatbot\u2019s work. \u201cIt\u2019s good, but it\u2019s not memorable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">C<\/span>hatGPT was so startling when it appeared last fall\u00a0because it made the power of AI \u2014 its ability to almost instantaneously explore, synthesize, and communicate vast galaxies of information \u2014 available to mere civilians in a way it never had been before. And the forecasts about its impact have ranged from the messianic to the apocalyptic: AI will save the world; or maybe it will ruin it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Applebee\u2019s prose or not, the chatbot was broadly correct when it answered Kuiphoff: AI certainly is transforming the landscape of higher education. Exactly how, though, it couldn\u2019t say \u2014 at least not yet.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<style>\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 {\n\t\t\t\tmargin: auto;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-item {\n\t\t\t\tfloat: left;\n\t\t\t\tmargin-top: 10px;\n\t\t\t\ttext-align: center;\n\t\t\t\twidth: 100%;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 img {\n\t\t\t\tborder: 2px solid #cfcfcf;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-caption {\n\t\t\t\tmargin-left: 0;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes\/media.php *\/\n\t\t<\/style>\n\t\t<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-12144 gallery-columns-1 gallery-size-thumbnail'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?attachment_id=12150'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/James-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/James-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/James-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/James.jpg 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?attachment_id=12151'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/IMG_5852-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"James Stacey Taylor \/ Images: Prequel, Facetune\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-12151\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/IMG_5852-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/IMG_5852-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/IMG_5852.jpg 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-12151'>\n\t\t\t\tJames Stacey Taylor \/\nImages: Prequel, Facetune\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p class=\"p1\">So let\u2019s go back to those 14 philosophy papers. In the fall semester, Professor Taylor gave a series of prompts for a short essay assignment to the 163 students across his Introduction to Philosophy and Contemporary Moral Issues classes. \u201cSome of them were very weak papers,\u201d Taylor says. \u201cAnd when I saw several with the same structure, the same content, it was pretty clear what was going on.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">H<\/span><span class=\"s2\">e did what <\/span>he suspected his students had done: put his prompts into the chatbot. \u201cIt came back with papers that were essentially similar to the students\u2019 papers, identical in some cases,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Was this the start of the plague of plagiarism that educators feared ChatGPT would unleash? Would the school prohibit the use of chatbots? \u201cThat would be like banning the internet,\u201d says Taylor, who also happens to be the college\u2019s chief academic integrity officer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The cluster of copied papers in his own classes did not metastasize elsewhere\u00a0on campus. \u201cOther cases using ChatGPT have appeared, but I think that there are far fewer than you might have expected in November,\u201d he says, marking the month the chatbot was introduced. \u201cIt became clear that this is pretty easy to detect.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Those 14 students got zeros for their assignments, but they revealed the chatbot\u2019s weak spots. Chatbots are adept at multiple-choice tests, and can plausibly respond to broad prompts. But if professors ask students to reflect on last Tuesday\u2019s class discussion or a student\u2019s personal experience, AI will be flummoxed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">TCNJ has not yet made any institutional changes in response to AI. \u201cWe don\u2019t need to jump right to our academic integrity policy and add a new section on cheating by using AI,\u201d Provost Jeffrey Osborn says. \u201cThe opportunity for the college is to determine how we can leverage this technology in both an educational and operational context. It is incumbent on us to design course experiences and methods to evaluate student learning with the knowledge that ChatGPT and other forms of AI are here to stay.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">A broadly representative task force is forming to look at the larger questions \u2014 about how to assess student work; to expand and enhance teaching strategies; and to ensure the integrity of faculty research. \u201cHigher education is much more than just content,\u201d says Osborn. \u201cIt\u2019s much more than producing X number of papers or products or deliverables. It\u2019s about learning how to think critically. It\u2019s about learning how to synthesize, how to experience different perspectives, and reach a new level of understanding as a result of that.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_12152\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-12152\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12152\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Yoon_2750_DSC2187_v2-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Sejong Yoon\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Yoon_2750_DSC2187_v2-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Yoon_2750_DSC2187_v2-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Yoon_2750_DSC2187_v2-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Yoon_2750_DSC2187_v2-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Yoon_2750_DSC2187_v2.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-12152\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sejong Yoon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">B<\/span>ut AI is moving <span class=\"s2\">so fast it <\/span>may be hard to keep up \u2014 a pace that has surprised even Professor Yoon in the computer science department,\u00a0whose work in the field started 15 years ago, when he was a graduate student helping AI applications better identify malignant tumors on\u00a0mammograms. \u201cPreviously, we could imagine what\u2019s possible and what\u2019s not possible on, say, a three-year or five-year horizon,\u201d he says. \u201cBut now, at the speed of development these days, even a six-month or one-year horizon would be really challenging to predict.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">The hardware and the vast\u00a0expansion of computing power has made this possible. It is also, as Yoon emphasizes, the theoretical\u00a0foundations and algorithms that increasingly work more like the human brain. \u201cThe dystopian \u2018Terminator\u2019 \u2014 that\u2019s not going to happen,\u201d he says. \u201cBut the potential problem is with the humans who are using them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Humans, Yoon worries, who use AI as an accomplice for cybercrimes,\u00a0for instance. Or humans, as Professor Kevin Michels worries, who use it to spread lies cloaked as truth.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cI\u2019m increasingly taken by its power, and increasingly concerned by some of the implications,\u201d says Michels, the founding director of the business school\u2019s Center for Innovation and Ethics. \u201cIf you ask a chatbot about a historic event or scientific claim, it may draw from a vast array of statements, not all of which are credible,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd how do we distinguish true from false in an answer that is authoritative looking?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">New technology, Michels notes, often brings dangers alongside benefits: Cars moved us quickly but left carnage in our roads. \u201cThe history of technological introduction tells us that we would do well to reflect before we deploy,\u201d he says. \u201cBut AI is like an arms race now, and every company is going to do everything they can to get out the next iteration, so there\u2019s not going to be a lot of deliberation before release.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">S<\/span><span class=\"s2\">o can AI <\/span>be a partner instead of an adversary? As a high school chess team veteran, Michels sees a hopeful model in the aftermath of chess champion Garry Kasparov\u2019s 1997 loss to a computer. \u201cOne of the unsung stories is that over time we discovered that while a machine can beat the best player on the planet, the best player on the planet, coupled with a machine, is actually better than the machine,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Working together \u2014 that\u2019s a strategy he\u2019s trying in his Innovation class this semester, asking students to first use the chatbot to teach themselves about five different technologies. \u201cAnd then phase two is to talk about how those technologies could be brought together in an interesting way to create something that\u2019s valuable in the world,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<style>\n\t\t\t#gallery-2 {\n\t\t\t\tmargin: auto;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-2 .gallery-item {\n\t\t\t\tfloat: left;\n\t\t\t\tmargin-top: 10px;\n\t\t\t\ttext-align: center;\n\t\t\t\twidth: 100%;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-2 img {\n\t\t\t\tborder: 2px solid #cfcfcf;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-2 .gallery-caption {\n\t\t\t\tmargin-left: 0;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes\/media.php *\/\n\t\t<\/style>\n\t\t<div id='gallery-2' class='gallery galleryid-12144 gallery-columns-1 gallery-size-thumbnail'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?attachment_id=12153'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/IMG_5782-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Kevin Michels \/ Images: Prequel\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/IMG_5782-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/IMG_5782-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/IMG_5782.jpg 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?attachment_id=12154'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/IMG_5784-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-2-12154\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/IMG_5784-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/IMG_5784-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/IMG_5784.jpg 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-2-12154'>\n\t\t\t\tKevin Michels \/ Images: Prequel\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cI think it\u2019s critical for us in the higher education community to ask foundational questions about what education should look like in light of the power of these tools and their extrapolated future,\u201d Michels says. \u201cCould AI be individualized in a way that could make it tremendously valuable as a teacher? Is this the great democratization of learning?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Kuiphoff thinks so. \u201cI think it could force higher education to be better,\u201d he says. He has always worked at the far edge of technology, using computers to make actual things \u2014 he held up an engraved brass piece for a 3D printed drum set as an example \u2014 but after he spent a feverish week while housebound with COVID-19 over winter break testing what ChatGPT could do, he speaks of it with an evangelical fervor. He uses it to code programs, to help him write articles, to generate dozens of design prototypes for objects he\u2019s making, and he envisions students using it for what he calls decentralized self-directed learning.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_12155\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-12155\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12155\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/johnkuiphoff-old-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"John Kuiphoff \/ Image: FaceApp\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/johnkuiphoff-old-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/johnkuiphoff-old-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/johnkuiphoff-old-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/johnkuiphoff-old-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/johnkuiphoff-old.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-12155\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">John Kuiphoff \/ Image: FaceApp<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cWhen I really got to intimately work with these technologies and push their boundaries to the limit, I realized that people just don\u2019t\u00a0understand how powerful this is and how much is going to change within the next couple of years,\u201d he says. \u201cThis might be bigger than the internet itself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">But that syllabus he asked ChatGPT to write for him? He ended up not using it. \u201cIt was a better syllabus than I could ever write, but it wasn\u2019t mine,\u201d he says. It gave him some direction and ideas and readings, which he then adapted into something that was his own. \u201cI like my syllabus to be a little less syllabus-y.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">I <\/span>turn to Kuiphoff <span class=\"s2\">and ChatGPT <\/span>again to help conclude the story, to launch readers into their own round of further inquiry and contemplation. Kuiphoff types: \u201cWhat should the last paragraph be?\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"p1\"><em>\u201cIn conclusion TCNJ\u2019s proactive approach to embracing AI is an essential step towards shaping the future of higher education and ensuring its students are well-prepared for an increasingly AI-driven world.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"p1\">It goes on for two more word-salad sentences, still sounding like a procrastinating student who has run out of both caffeine and ideas. Not much of an ending, so let\u2019s try another question: How will it answer once it has read this story \u2014 or, more precisely, ingested the information in it? Will it sound more intelligent, more insightful, more human? Will it give us even more occasion to hope, or to fear, or both?<\/p>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f1f1f1; padding: 25px;\">\n<h4 class=\"p1\"><strong>Altered images<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p class=\"p1\">To illustrate this story, we asked John Kuiphoff \u201904, professor of design and creative technology, to produce portraits of the subjects using artificial intelligence applications. We provided him with several photos of each person, shot against a white background in various poses and angles. He explains what he did here:<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><strong>APPS USED<br \/>\n<\/strong>FaceApp, Facetune, and Prequel<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><strong>HOW\u2019S IT WORK?<br \/>\n<\/strong>You upload 10\u201320 photos to the app and the software generates a collection of avatars. Facetune and Prequel generate random backgrounds and features like hair color. You can choose from theme categories such as mythical creatures, gothic, and soft glam. The software isn\u2019t sophisticated enough yet to add user controls.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><strong>THE PROCESS AGED YOU<br \/>\n<\/strong>My image was created with FaceApp. On that app you can alter features such as age, glasses, and beard length.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><strong>ONE NOT LIKE THE OTHERS<br \/>\n<\/strong>Sejong Yoon, computer science professor, was adamant that he did not want photos of himself put through an AI tool.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><strong>THE LIMITATIONS<br \/>\n<\/strong>I generated about 600 photos of each person; most were not very good. Many look distorted and weird. I got one or two good avatars out of every 100 images generated.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Pictures John Emerson and Peter Murphy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s too early to know if it will ultimately bring promise or peril, but artificial intelligence is here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":299,"featured_media":12149,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/299"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12144"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12402,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12144\/revisions\/12402"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}