Abdul Aziz Al-Rashed, a student at the American University of Sharjah, used the popular artificial intelligence app “ChatGBT” to write and edit general lessons during his studies without the permission of his teachers.
“I felt I was acting illegally,” Al-Rashed, 19, told the Al-Hurrah TV website.
But after UAE students were allowed to use ChatGBT, Al-Rashed said they felt comfortable using the app without fear of wrongdoing.
Last February, the UAE’s Minister of Education, Ahmad Belhaul Al Falasi, said during the 2023 World Government Summit that his country would allow students to use this advanced technology.
Newspaper Quotations”ReportOn Al-Falasi’s authority, he said, “Education is on the verge of a fundamental revolution, especially in light of the new technology called GPT Chat… One of the tasks of the Ministry of Education is to adopt the latest technological technologies and change the assessment mechanism; As the students use this technology everyday, we cannot stop them from using it and teach them in the traditional way.
Minister Al-Falasi’s comments are not surprising, especially for one country was initiated 6 years ago, a government strategy for artificial intelligence, in which education was one of the targeted sectors.
“Greater” benefits
Under this strategy, which will continue until 2031, the UAE created a Ministry of Artificial Intelligence in October 2017. And two years later, the Gulf government established the Mohammed bin Zayed University, which specialized solely in this technological revolution.
Allowing students to use GBT Chat in the UAE raises questions about the pros and cons of this technology and its potential in the education sector.
Anas al-Najdawi, associate professor at Abu Dhabi University, told Al-Hurrah that “any new technology creates a kind of confusion in society about the potential for misuse.”
For Al-Najtawi, who is also a digital business consultant, the advantages of this technology in the education sector “weigh” more than its disadvantages, according to his expression.
Developed by Microsoft-backed OpenAI, ChatGBT is a chatbot that can answer questions, write articles, and perform other tasks.
Yasia Ahli, an Emirati expert on artificial intelligence, agrees with Najdavi, saying that “all new technological developments can be used in a beneficial or harmful way”, but he says that the benefits of using artificial intelligence in education outweigh its disadvantages.
In an interview with the Al-Hurrah website, Ahli believes that “technological development has been a hallmark of humanity,” and this encourages him to support the decision of the Ministry of Education in his country.
“By designing and using artificial intelligence in all its forms, humans can expand their capabilities and opportunities in the long run… these are powerful tools to help them (students) in their work and develop their skills faster and better,” she said.
And he continued, “I encourage all students to learn to use it properly for the benefit of themselves, the state and man.”
“Fraud and Theft”
The Emirati artificial intelligence expert compared the use of “GBT Chat” in education to an earlier era when it was “necessary” for students to learn to use a calculator and then a computer.
And, “It is now essential for students to learn to use (large language models), such as ChatGPT, because they can quickly understand, summarize, and generate intelligent linguistic content.”
A large language model (LLM) is a type of artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm that uses deep learning techniques and large data sets to understand, summarize, generate, and predict new content.Technical goalIt is an American company that provides data-driven marketing services.
However, Al-Rashed says that “many students use the program for cheating and plagiarism,” highlighting that despite its benefits, it “helps them work faster than usual.”
In this context, Al-Najdawi emphasized the importance of teaching students about “wrong or immoral applications by creating a legal framework that regulates the use of these applications.”
The professor, recounting his personal experience after allowing his students to use various artificial intelligence tools in their studies, said the university has “created a guide for student use” to prevent misuse.
He said, “We use it within certain principles to renew scientific research by allowing students to use technology to engage students in a question in class, prepare a specific assignment, or evaluate a written text.”
Likewise, according to Al-Najdawi, artificial intelligence tools are used in programming lessons by explaining gaps and errors in programming commands to students.
However, the degree to which students benefit from this new technology varies from person to person, as Al-Rashed indicates that the use of “GBT Chat” varies according to the expertise of university students.
The young student said, “My major in mechanical engineering doesn’t help me much other than writing, editing, correcting typos, and summarizing stories on my current resume.” However, this could be a new version of “Chat GBT”. Able to solve math problems and English language test “IELTS”.
According to the Gulf Government’s strategy for 2017, the use of artificial intelligence in the education sector comes from “reducing costs and increasing the willingness to learn”.
“People can’t be changed”
Ahli lists the benefits of students using the Chat GBT app as it “allows students to focus more on higher-order thinking skills such as critical analysis, evaluation, and creativity rather than memorization, repetition, or imitation.”
“Furthermore, these models can learn from observations and interactions between students and teachers, creating a dynamic and collaborative learning environment,” he added.
However, Ahli pointed out, “These tools are still new, and the student must understand their limitations, biases, and errors, as well as verify and modify their outputs,” adding, “With their increased use, they are in the distant future now as basic as calculators and computers.”
For his part, Al-Najdawi sees the future as one where artificial intelligence will fundamentally change the concept of education, as the research skills and knowledge acquisition offered by these new tools can replace traditional learning based on memorization.
He continued, “Chat GBT has passed medical, engineering and law exams, and this technology is improving its performance, and such technologies will be more widely accepted among universities in the future.”
However, expert Ahli cautioned against using these tools as a “substitute” rather than as a “supplementary” component to teachers’ regular instruction.
He said, “Artificial intelligence cannot replace the human element in education because it does not provide human empathy, motivation and socialization.”
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