ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence chatbot, which was developed and launched by OpenAI in November 2022. It is an innovation for the industry because usually chatbots are used to mimic a human conversation but ChatGPT is versatile and can perform much more than that. It is a pre-trained generative chat, which makes use of Natural Language Processing (NLP). The source it uses for its data is textbooks, various articles and websites to model its own language for responding to human interactions and conversations.
For example: It can write and debug computer programmes, teleplays, compose music and song lyrics, write student essays, answer test questions, do poetry and much more.
How it can affect online tutoring?
With the advent of ChatGPT, it has been a sea of changes has been brought to the education sector. The education system’s focus has always been on making students learn and understand concepts in detail which is time-consuming but in today’s time, students lack patience and look for shortcuts to solve tasks. ChatGPT has even failed most plagiarism-checking tools used by institutes and schools by changing the language of answers.
Students use this platform extensively these days for learning and completing various assignments. It is said that this chatbot can replace tutors in the future.
If you ask ChatGPT why it would be a good tutor, so this is what its response will be:
“I am a good tutor for a student because I am able to understand and respond to a wide range of questions and I can provide detailed and accurate information on a wide range of subjects. Additionally, I am able to communicate this information in a clear and easy-to-understand manner, making it accessible to students with different levels of understanding.
Because I am a machine-learning model, I can also provide a large amount of information quickly and efficiently, which can be especially helpful for students who are trying to learn a lot of new material in a short amount of time.”
If the same question is asked to Siri, the response received would be:
“Hmm … I don’t have an answer for that. Is there something else I can help you with?”
The responses above show how this chatbot has been made to think of itself as a good tutor for students whereas, others like Siri, and Alexa, are not programmed for such responses. ChatGPT has the access to unlimited information as it uses various websites or different portals to answer and revert to questions asked by students. So, this gives it an edge over tutors. This platform is free for all and can be accessed easily by anyone. The amount of data that ChatGPT has now collected with itself shows that it can even help students pass graduate-level examinations.
To conclude, it can be rightly said that students have shifted their focus and are now getting more and more dependent on ChatGPT for all their queries and doubts. But can it be a long-term solution? Can it really contribute to strengthening every student’s foundation and help in learning for life? Well, that is something time will tell. Though ChatGPT can call itself an ‘intelligent tutor’ but surely it cannot replace the experience, the compassion, and the personalised touch a tutor can bring to the table nor can it be the ‘right tutor’.
(The writer, Minal Anand,is the founder and CEO of GuruQ)
