Chat GPT sparks cheating fears

Essays written by ChatGPT have produced some “terrifying” results that could lead to changes to City’s assessments, the head of the journalism department said.

Professor Mel Bunce called AI a “huge game changer”. After becoming aware of the new technology, she ran some of City’s frst year essay prompts through ChatGPT and got some “very, very good responses”.

Professor Bunce explained that the department has been having “urgent conversations about whether we should change frst-year assessments”.

While AI can be helpful for trawling through large datasets in hospitals, there are “immediate implications” for universities, Professor Bunce said. Lecturers have begun to worry that ChatGPT could be used to write assignments.

“I see it as a tool that massively changes your ability to gather information and present it in an accessible form instantaneously,” she said.

ChatGPT has over one million users and was even put to use in Westminster when Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt used it to write about the economy in January.

For journalists, Professor

Bunce can see AI being helpful for doing “quick background research and getting it into a palatable shape”.

Its ability to pull information together could also be an advantage, as much of a journalist’s work cannot be done by AI.

“So much of what we teach and what’s important to us about adding value to public discourse is about going beyond anything that this could do,” she said.

Discovering new information and insight is at the core of journalism, which is why Professor Bunce feels the department is more prepared for the rise of ChatGPT than other departments..

The debate around the use of the technology in journalism has been ongoing. Sky News put ChatGPT to the test in December when it assisted a reporter in writing an article on itself. Meanwhile, BuzzFeed announced that it would be using AI for quizzes to “enhance” and “personalise” its content.

With Microsoft’s ten billion dollar investment into OpenAI, AI is set to be at the heart of journalism in the future.

Ella Kipling