Sciences Po, one of the top universities in France, has banned the use of ChatGPT, an artificial intelligencebased chatbot, to prevent fraud and plagiarism.
ChatGPT is a free program that generates original text on virtually any topic in response to a question. The tool is capable of producing articles, essays, jokes, and even poetry, which has sparked debates about plagiarism in academia.
The university said on Friday (27th) that it had sent all students and staff a statement banning ChatGPT and all other artificial intelligencebased tools.
“Without a transparent notice, students are prohibited from using the software for the production of work or presentations, except in cases of specific purposes, under the supervision of the course instructor,” Sciences Po noted, without specifying how it will monitor the decision . . .
ChatGPT has already been banned in some public schools in the cities of New York and Seattle in the United States, according to press reports, and several North American universities have announced plans for students to do less homework and more handwritten essays and oral exams.
Sciences Po, whose main campus is in Paris, added that punishment for using the software could go as far as expelling the student from university or even French higher education as a whole.
“ChatGPT raises important questions for educators and researchers around the world about fraud in general and plagiarism in particular,” the university said.
Microsoft last week announced a multibilliondollar investment in OpenAI, the artificial intelligence lab that developed ChatGPT expanding a bet it made almost four years ago when it poured $1 billion into the Tesla Startup cofounded by chairman Elon, Musk and Co. invested investor Sam Altman.