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Say hello to your new tutor: It’s ChatGPT

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Summary

Khan Lab School in Palo Alto and Mountain View has welcomed a special version of the ChatGPT chatbot technology into its classrooms. Rather than providing an answer to a math problem, the chatbot, known as Khanmigo, is programmed to act like a tutor and help students as they work. Concerns have been raised that the technology could provide inaccurate information, enable cheating or provide shortcuts that could hurt students in the long run. However, the school has implemented guardrails such as stronger moderation filters and alerting teachers and parents if concerning content is entered into the chatbot. The school has seen positive results in the limited testing of the technology, though the privileged makeup of the school could affect its usefulness elsewhere.

Q&As

What is Khanmigo and what is its purpose?
Khanmigo is a chatbot tutor programmed to act like a thoughtful tutor that moves students forward in their work.

What are some of the risks associated with using AI technologies in a classroom setting?
Some of the risks associated with using AI technologies in a classroom setting include the potential for inaccurate information, enabling cheating, providing shortcuts that could hurt students in the long run, and spreading misinformation.

What kind of guardrails have been implemented to ensure the safety of students when using Khanmigo?
The guardrails implemented to ensure the safety of students when using Khanmigo include stronger moderation filters than those of ChatGPT, reminders that teachers can see what students write, and alerts to teachers and parents if students enter something concerning.

What is the median household income in Palo Alto and what is the tuition at Khan Lab School?
The median household income in Palo Alto is nearly $195,000, and tuition at the Khan Lab School is more than $31,000 per year.

How is Khanmigo being used in classrooms and what are the benefits and drawbacks of using the technology?
Khanmigo is being used in classrooms to help students ask questions and get more detailed explanations than they might typically ask out loud. The benefits of using the technology include providing more detailed explanations and prompting students to ask more questions. The drawbacks include the potential for excessive detail and slowing down the student's pace.

AI Comments

👍 This article provides an interesting look into how AI technology is being used in the classroom and how it can be used to help students learn in a more efficient way.

👎 This article appears to overlook the potential risks of using AI technology in the classroom, such as the potential for students to be exposed to inaccurate information or even be cheated out of a proper education.

AI Discussion

Me: It's about a school in Palo Alto that's using a ChatGPT artificial intelligence chatbot called Khanmigo to help students with their studies. It's designed to act like a tutor and provide helpful feedback.

Friend: Wow, that's really interesting. What are the implications of using a chatbot like this in the classroom?

Me: Well, there are both pros and cons. On the one hand, it can provide students with more detailed help than they could get from a human tutor, and it could help create a more engaging learning environment. On the other hand, there are fears that it could provide inaccurate information or enable cheating, or provide shortcuts that could hurt students in the long run. Additionally, there are concerns over how AI technology can be biased, and that it can potentially spread misinformation. So, it's important to have guardrails in place to ensure that it's used in an appropriate way.

Action items

Research the potential implications of using AI technology in the classroom, such as the potential for inaccurate information, cheating, or providing shortcuts that could hurt students in the long run.
Explore the use of AI technology in other contexts, such as the potential for bias, racism, and sexism, and the need for double-checking any information provided by AI.
Consider the sociotechnical system when introducing AI technology into the classroom, such as access to broadband, computers, and tech support.

Technical terms

ChatGPT: ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence chatbot that can be used to answer questions and provide assistance.
Khanmigo: Khanmigo is a special version of ChatGPT that is programmed to act like a tutor and help students with their work.
OpenAI: OpenAI is a nonprofit tech start-up that created GPT-4, the underlying technology for the latest version of ChatGPT.
DALL-E: DALL-E is a text-to-image generator that has sparked debates about whether AI-generated images are visual plagiarism or whether they’re helping to spread misinformation.
API: An application programming interface (API) is a set of routines, protocols, and tools for building software applications.
Socratic Seminar: A Socratic seminar is a form of philosophical discussion in which participants ask questions and make observations about a text.