Editor's note: This story is delivered free to subscribers' inboxes every other Thursday in the This Week in Higher Education newsletter, featuring trends and top stories in higher education.
When ChatGPT came onto the scene in late 2022, fears of student cheating and concerns about how technology could diminish learning dominated higher education circles.
Then, amidst still a dizzying array of question marks, hope arose that educators could find ways to use technology to their advantage and improve student learning.
Now comes the first partnership between a higher education institution and OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, and a new question mark.
Arizona State University will begin offering an unlimited version of ChatGPT Enterprise to the community on ASU dedicated servers to ensure that what users enter into the program never leaves the ASU community. ChatGPT Enterprise determines what it can handle (it has better data analysis capabilities and doesn't limit the number of requests), how quickly it can process requests, and how safe your information is (with this type of product). The free version of the product It's different from OpenAI does not use any data to train models.
At least initially, ChatGPT Enterprise accounts will only be available to faculty, staff, and researchers who submit proposals about how they can be used to promote student success, generate new research, and streamline organizational processes. Students do not have access to that information unless they work with a faculty, staff member, or researcher who has an account.
On the other side of the partnership, OpenAI will participate in designing, supporting and ensuring effective use of the tool at ASU, according to a university spokesperson.
Leo S. Lo, dean of academic libraries and learning sciences at the University of New Mexico and an advocate for AI literacy in higher education, said the partnership is a forward-thinking move.
“There are obviously a lot of issues to figure out as you implement this, but the only way to figure those out is to actually implement these features yourself,” Lo said. “I think a lot of people outside of ASU will be interested in looking at this issue. We want to learn from them and are confident they will share the lessons they have learned to think about how to do this at our own institutions.”
He said ASU can solve these big problems: What are the ethical and social implications of using this technology? What are the biases of the trained models and what information do they produce? What are the limitations and can they be accounted for as technology advances?
While most of the buzz about generative AI in academic settings is related to teaching and learning, Lo sees significant implications for other aspects of higher education. For example, researchers can use these tools to synthesize large data sets.
Lo said ASU leaders and others should be wary of a new kind of digital divide that could arise if not all universities have access to these tools.
He is excited about ASU's partnership with OpenAI and similar partnerships he anticipates, but likened the current moment to the dawn of the internet. “At this point, caution is always required.”
Some ASU instructors are already using various forms of artificial intelligence.
For students and others using the free version of ChatGPT, the University's Artificial Intelligence page advises not to share any personal information or intellectual property (yours or others') with the program.
Kyle Jensen, director of ASU's writing program and an English professor who has had students use the free version of ChatGPT and similar technologies, said generative AI has already brought together faculty across the university.
“I routinely talk to colleagues outside of my field about problems I think we all really care about, problems we want to solve, and concepts that still seem vague,” Jensen said. “The power lies in collaboration. The power lies in opportunities that we don’t necessarily see until the technology is in our hands.”
Jensen said she tested some of these skills in a recent section of her Writing Methods course, a course comprised primarily of upperclassmen.
He recommends that students use ChatGPT for ideas if they are having trouble starting an assignment. He said typing prompts into technology can be helpful for students who feel stuck. After you've already completed the writing process, he recommends sharing your writing through ChatGPT or a similar program to receive feedback on how to improve. For example, if a technology comes up with five different options for how to improve a given sentence, typically the student will either take some aspect of the suggestion and create their own revision, or dislike the suggestion and end up feeling more confident about what they originally wrote. Will be.
Jensen said using these techniques throughout the process helps students become better writers.
ASU has a reputation for innovative partnerships. For example, last year the university partnered with educational technology company DreamScape Learn for a virtual reality biology class in which students don VR headsets instead of white coats and goggles and learn about life sciences by solving problems and dissecting creatures like dinosaurs. began providing. At the alien zoo.
It's unclear how much this new partnership will cost the university. Kyle Bowen, chief information officer for ASU Enterprise Technology, which is responsible for advancing the university's digital ecosystem, said costs will vary depending on the size and duration of the initiative. Both factors are unknown at this time, he said.
“At this point, we can't put a dollar figure on this because the usage and community response will help determine what that investment will look like,” Bowen said. “It’s designed to be open and flexible, so when we want to identify places where we can have a big impact and scale that up even bigger and do it in a responsible way, it gives us the opportunity to do that.”
As for the future, Anne Jones, ASU's vice provost for undergraduate education, said these types of partnerships make sense for both tech companies and universities because universities are a microcosm of society as a whole.
The ASU community is huge. According to its website, the university enrolls approximately 115,000 undergraduate students, 32,000 graduate and professional students, and has 5,300 faculty.
“We represent an incredibly diverse group of students, faculty, researchers and projects to test ideas and see what will have value in the future marketplace,” Jones said. “But it’s also essential for our students that we have a seat at the table to educate them, because this also impacts how all those skills are used in the workplace.”
This story about the Open AI Partnership was produced by: Hechinger Reportis a nonprofit, independent media outlet focused on inequality and innovation in education.