NB Explains: Why Bengaluru university bans ChatGPT, an AI agent?

 In a major development, ChatGPT an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven content-generating too which is curently getting popular among the students for exams, assignments and lab tests, has now been banned by a Bengaluru-based RV University.

 

The development comes just day after New York education society banned the openAI tool inside the campus to stop students from using it during exams, lab tests and assignments.

 

“We have issued an advisory to all departments in the university and banned a few AI tools like ChatGPT as students might use them in exams or to complete their assignments. The ban is already implemented,” an official told.

According to the notice issued by the dean of the school of computer science and engineering at RV University, the students are prohibited from using ChatGPT and other tools and are directed to submit original works for assessments. The institute will be conducting random checks among students and if they fail to reproduce identical results, disciplinary actions will be taken, the dean Sanjay Chitnis said.

 

The advisory further says, "For some work, students will be explicitly permitted to use AI agents to enable higher productivity and to get used to a work environment where such agents will be allowed to be used." The university has blocked ChatGPT for general tutorials and lab sessions.

Besides RV University, Institutions such as Dayananda Sagar University,and the International Institute of Information Technology are exploring measures to prevent students from depending on AI tools like ChatGPT, Github Copilot, Blackbox and others.

To prevent plagiarism, the International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIIT-B) has formed a committee to develop a structural framework for using ChatGPT, which will come up with specific directions. Authorities at Dayananda Sagar University are planning to change the nature of assignments to address the issue.
As per the reports, apart from ChatGPT the university has also banned other AI-based tools such as GitHub Co-pilot and Black Box. New York City schools had banned ChatGPT across all devices and networks in New York’s public schools. A department spokesperson said the decision stems from “concerns about negative impacts on student learning, and concerns regarding the safety and accuracy of contents”.

ChatGPT (Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer) is a chatbot developed by OpenAI, an American artificial intelligence research laboratory. It is trained with Artificial Intelligence to give well-structured answers to 'all' questions asked to it. Within months of its launch in November last year, the AI agent has gained immense popularity in the tech world.