Should AI write papers for you?

Source: Xinhuanet

Authors: Li Shuangxi, Li Wei, Xie Ying, reporters from "Xinhua Viewpoint" of Xinhua News Agency

Image source: Generated by Unbounded AI

Recently, it is the peak period for college students to submit course papers, defense and review graduation thesis. "Xinhua Viewpoint" reporters found that some college students are quietly using AI (artificial intelligence) writing software such as ChatGPT to write papers, or use AI to assist in writing papers, such as listing outlines, polishing language, and reducing repetition rates.

Will AI writing software facilitate academic fraud? Should it be taken care of?

AI software ghostwriting thesis

Cheng Guangyu (pseudonym), a third-year student at a university in Beijing, has to submit four course papers this semester, each of which is required to be around 3,000 words. Cheng Guangyu didn't spend time reading documents, sorting out, extracting, and writing. He stayed up all night before handing in his homework and completed the thesis using ChatGPT.

"At first I was worried about whether I could finish it, but I gave ChatGPT a general direction. It listed the outline of the thesis and continued writing automatically. It was much better than me." Cheng Guangyu wrote 4 papers in one night, and submitted them after simple revisions to teachers.

The reporter learned from some colleges and universities that some college students currently use ChatGPT to complete coursework, final papers, and even undergraduate or master's thesis. "The threshold for undergraduate graduation thesis is low, and I don't have much scientific research ability. Many people's undergraduate theses are copied from the Internet, and it is more convenient to hand them over to artificial intelligence." Qiao Yifan (pseudonym), a senior student at a university in Wuhan, said .

From making an outline, writing part of the content to polishing the language and reducing the repetition rate, AI writing software can be used in all aspects of essay writing. However, a college student in a university in Hunan Province who has used AI writing software believes that the effect of using AI software to modify and polish articles is not bad, but it is not appropriate to use it for substantive research and to expound innovative ideas.

The reporter found that domestic AI writing software similar to ChatGPT is not uncommon. For example, Zhichuangbang AI, Secret Tower Writing Cat, and Quick Writing of Drawings, etc., generally support the writing of articles and papers. In addition, on websites such as Zhihu and Xiaohongshu, articles teaching how to use AI software to write papers abound. In the experience sharing, some netizens said: "The teacher couldn't see it at all", "Praised that the AI paper is well written", "Give me an excellent paper".

During the interview, some university teachers also discovered the characteristics of AI papers. When a teacher majoring in international politics in a university in Jilin Province reviewed an undergraduate thesis, he found that his thesis on Japanese culture was biased, with blunt, lengthy language and empty content. Under questioning from the teacher, the student admitted that the paper was written using ChatGPT.

In addition, some papers written with AI software are riddled with errors. "If you check carefully, you will find that the links to the papers cited cannot be opened, the author's name cannot be found, and the publication time, journal, page number, SCI division, etc. of the paper are all fake, and even some historical events involved are fabricated from nothing. "Said He Shiming, an associate professor at the School of Computer and Communication Engineering, Changsha University of Science and Technology.

** "Help scientific research" or "encourage cheating"? **

Can I use ChatGPT to assist in essay writing? Many university teachers have disputes about this, some support users, and some firmly oppose and demand strict prohibition.

It is understood that some foreign universities have clearly issued regulations prohibiting the use of ChatGPT to write papers. In China, academic journals such as "Jinan Journal (Philosophy and Social Science Edition)" and "Journal of Tianjin Normal University (Basic Education Edition)" have successively issued instructions on the use of artificial intelligence writing tools, indicating that if the author uses relevant tools in the creation of thesis, he must The degree of use is explained in detail in the article.

For research purposes, Yang Zhiping, a professor at the Department of Marxism at Northeast Normal University, tried to use AI writing software. He found that in order for AI to provide correct ideas, it is necessary to continuously "feed" corpus to AI. In the questions and answers with AI, the originally vague research ideas gradually became clear. "It's like exchanging ideas with an expert with an encyclopedia-like amount of knowledge. Through the collision of ideas, new academic viewpoints can be inspired." Yang Zhiping said.

"AI writing software is just like Google, Baidu and other search tools. When it first appeared, it always caused people to panic." Yao Yuchun, dean of the Social Science Research Institute of Jilin University, said, but at its root, AI writing software is still a kind of Tools, which are products of technology, need to be viewed dialectically. If students only use it for limited purposes, such as searching for documents, listing outlines, organizing ideas, etc., there is nothing wrong with it, and it cannot be banned.

Fu Weidong, a professor at the Faculty of Artificial Intelligence Education at Central China Normal University, believes that no matter whether it is artificial writing or AI writing, according to the existing academic paper norms, as long as it exceeds the prescribed repetition rate, it should be regarded as academic misconduct. In addition, AI writing is based on the retrieval and processing of existing knowledge, and repetition of sentences or plagiarism of ideas is inevitable, which will inevitably involve disputes over intellectual property rights, portrait rights, etc., and should be strictly regulated.

A university teacher in Hunan Province worried that if students were allowed to use AI to write, it would not be conducive to cultivating students' scientific research ability. If things go on like this, it is easy for students to develop inertia and form a bad academic atmosphere.

In addition, information security issues that AI software may cause have also attracted attention. Li Huilai, a professor at the School of Artificial Intelligence at Jilin University, said that some European countries have to "block" ChatGPT due to data security issues, because there is a hidden danger of "collecting, using and disclosing personal information without consent" when it captures data. Li Huilai pointed out that when domestic students use ChatGPT, it may cause the abuse of domestic scientific research results, and there are potential data security risks.

Actively respond to the academic challenges brought by AI technology

Some industry experts believe that, like search tools, as a technology, the popularization and application of AI is unstoppable. The application standards of AI writing tools should be formulated as soon as possible to standardize the scope of use; at the same time, the traditional evaluation mechanism of colleges and universities for students should be changed, and AI writing testing tools should be provided for researchers. In addition, it is necessary to strengthen independent research and development in the field of artificial intelligence and master core technologies.

Xiong Bingqi, dean of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, believes that it is difficult to ban AI writing software, and we should find a way to "lock the devil in a bottle" and clarify the scope and extent of the use of AI writing tools. "Instead of avoiding it, it is better to face it. Colleges and universities can even set up public courses on the use of AI writing tools, and clearly teach students the usage norms, methods and academic ethics."

He Shiming believes that plagiarism checking software used by colleges and universities is already difficult to cope with AI writing. At present, universities and academic journals lack special software for detecting AI writing, and it is inevitable to "miss everything" by relying on human eye recognition alone. It is hoped that relevant domestic institutions will develop software to identify AI writing, and provide colleges and universities with a more secure and reliable anti-academic fraud system.

In order to avoid the impact of AI writing, some foreign colleges and universities are reducing the number of open-ended assignments completed after class, and placing more emphasis on classroom assignments, handwritten papers, group assignments and oral exams.

Xie Di, an associate professor at the School of Public Administration of Hubei University, suggested that the education department should pay more attention to students' problem awareness in judging students' papers, and increase the attention of meaningful content such as experiments and research on social observation, understanding and analysis of nature. Score weight, rather than overemphasizing form.

ChatGPT has powerful functions and has the potential to bring about a new technological revolution. Li Huilai believes that domestic research and development of artificial intelligence should be strengthened. At present, some domestic companies are also developing similar products, but they are still in the early stages and cannot compete strongly with ChatGPT.

"It is necessary to use the window period to speed up the development of systems such as Chinese AI applications and AI paper detection, and strengthen the independent research and development of artificial intelligence core technologies." Fu Weidong said.