Those taking the IB exams will be allowed to use ChatGPT

Those taking the International Baccalaureate (IB) exams can quote from content created by ChatGPT in their essay, The Guardian reports.

Students must provide clear answers when quoting responses from this chatbot powered by artificial intelligence (AI). 

ChatGPT — a free online chatbot by San Francisco research lab Open AI — is putting users at the forefront of a technological wave known as generative artificial intelligence (AI).

Since its release, the chatbot has caught the attention by generating text for marketing copies, summarising news, coding, and many more. 

IB’s head of assessment principles and practice Matt Glanville mentioned that responses from this chatbot must be treated as any other source in essays. 

“The clear line between using ChatGPT and providing original work is exactly the same as using ideas taken from other people or the internet. As with any quote or material adapted from another source, it must be credited in the body of the text and appropriately referenced in the bibliography,” he told the Times. 

Glanville also shares that essay writing will feature less prominently in the IB exams in the future due to the rise of chatbot technology. 

“When AI can essentially write an essay at the touch of a button, we need our pupils to master different skills, such as understanding if the essay is any good or if it has missed context, has used biased data or if it is lacking in creativity,” he says. 

The IB is an alternative to A-Levels and Scottish Highers. Official statistics from IB’s website show that as of March 2023, over 7,800 IB programmes are offered across 5,600 schools in 159 countrie

K-12 schools in the US has clamped down on the usage of ChatGPT in public schools. Source: Drew Angerer/Getty Images North America/Getty Images/AFP

ChatGPT: A friend or foe in the public schools?

K-12 schools around the globe have taken a drastically different approach in allowing the usage of ChatGPT in their institutions. 

Los Angeles Unified School District was one of the first districts to block the site on Dec. 12, 2023 — a move to “protect academic honesty,” says a spokesperson to the Washington Post. 

Meanwhile, South Australia has green-lit the controversial AI chatbot ChatGPT in public schools across the state, according to the Edge of the Crowd. 

One educator in Lexington, Donnie Piercey, has instructed 23 students to try and outwit ChatGPT in a fifth-grade classroom.

“This is the future,” Piercey told Fortune, who described ChatGPT as just the latest technology in his 17 years of teaching that prompted concerns about the potential for cheating. 

“As educators, we haven’t figured out the best way to use artificial intelligence yet. But it’s coming, whether we want it to or not.”