Many campuses ban AI from university wifi
January 31, 2023
A new form of artificial intelligence called Chat GPT is spreading across the nation, and more specifically, college campuses.
Chat GPT is an accessible version of AI that can answer questions, write essays, solve math equations and is trained to respond with human-like responses, all allegedly free of plagiarism.
The chatbot is free, can be accessed online through any device in any location with a wifi connection and is a relatively new piece of technology in the world of AI according to PC guides.
The feature exists to mimic and hold conversations and to answer and learn from your questions. Similar to Siri’s functionality, but more developed with a higher performance rate.
The chatbot’s ability to provide students with such an accessible resource to cheat has led many college campuses to ban the use of the robot on their platforms, devices and wi-fi networks.
Students on campus are divided on whether or not BGSU should ban the new form of technology, and how they feel about the bot in general.
“I understand why a university would want to ban it for cheating purposes because it could contradict academic honesty policies, but if we could use the AI for research purposes or for something like 24-hour tutoring or research facilities, then I think that could be a really useful tool to have, especially since it seems like a lot of people get embarrassed about going to the learning commons for in-person help,” sophomore Jada Tucker says. “Maybe some sort of AI tutor would make students feel less “ashamed” in getting help.”
Similarly to Tucker, Emma McGill, a freshman at BGSU agrees that banning the program may not be beneficial overall.
“I completely understand why BGSU would ban this type of website since it takes away from real work and academic honesty. I do feel like it would be helpful towards students who do struggle with writing long essays or have a harder time with math,” McGill said. “I honestly don’t have any strong negative or positive feelings towards the ban of this website because I have never used it or thought about using it.”
Other students feel like banning the technology won’t do anything positive or negative for the University.
“I don’t know if they should ban it, there are plenty of websites that can help you cheat. By banning one, you’re not banning the internet,” said sophomore student Gretchen Troxell.
BGSU has not officially banned the Chat GPT from their network and there is no word on whether they plan to in the future.