Since the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, there has been a blizzard on the internet.

Within one week of its inauguration the platform welcomed just over one million users. Today, more than 100 million people are using this revolutionary tool, which is described in social media circles as both astonishing and scary.

We have often bemoaned the slow pace of progress in certain sectors of our society, indicating the urgency to arrive at First-World country status and embrace the Fourth Industrial Revolution, but can we really manage the rapid pace of artificial intelligence (AI)?

AI is not new; it is used a lot in the manufacturing, automobile, and medical industries. Similarly, it has been used in different disciplines within the education sector. However, this latest AI, ChatGPT, seems to be of grave concern to education stakeholders.

GPT stands for generative pre-trained transformer. It includes an autoregressive language model that uses deep learning to generate human-like text. The particularity of this platform is that the primary techniques of deep learning used by the model includes supervised learning and reinforcement learning from human feedback. That means it uses previously entered responses from users to generate its next replies.

Further features of ChatGPT suggest that the information provided by the platform is clear and easy to understand. It can be used to generate ideas from scratch and can help people with various business interests develop business strategies. Additionally, it can provide recipes, help with gift suggestions, write blogs and essays, write codes, find bugs in codes and explain the errors, among many other things. Furthermore, ChatGPT generates text based on the data and information available on the internet in a way that is more creative and advanced when compared to the chatbots of Silicon Valley.

Understandably, there is cause for concern in the education sector regarding ChatGPT and other AI platforms, especially regarding assignments and assessments. Our higher education institutions are the most concerned, given that students have critical papers to submit and most programmes have become hybrid since the novel coronavirus pandemic. Already, some institutions are taking steps to bar access to the platform on their campuses’ Wi-Fi. Others are yet to work on policy documents to treat with the situation.

Whilst there seems to be an unwillingness to embrace the platform for ethical reasons, my colleagues in higher education should also think about ways to exploit it to the advantage of both lecturers and students. Perhaps if we had more professors and colleges/universities doing research, we would have a more open mindset.

My primary areas of research are computer/mobile-assisted language learning (CALL/MALL), computer-mediated communication (CMC), and multimodal interaction. As an instructor of three languages and linguistics, I have already explored the basic functions of ChatGPT and thought about how it could be used to help both native and non-native students to improve their writing skills in different languages. The point is: We cannot only view the platform as a medium that students will use to cheat. They, too, can learn while using it to improve their skills. Don’t we encourage them to use Grammarly and other proofreading sites to review their writing pieces before submitting them?

The use of AI calls for us to be even more creative and innovate in our assessments. Besides, many of us know our students’ writing skills. On many occasions I have told students, “This is not your work.” Though they may try to deny it, I know that a lower intermediate student cannot ascend to an advanced level in a matter of two weeks. But, again, how do we treat with grading these students?

Outside of individual institutions crafting their own policies and brainstorming how to proceed, I believe that this phenomenon calls for a more national approach. A conference or a town hall meeting should be organised, at which different interest groups from the education, information technology, and business industries meet to explore the advantages and disadvantages of AI platforms. All of our local tertiary institutions have to be accredited by the University Council of Jamaica (UCA), and most teachers’ colleges and community colleges have their respective overseeing bodies. It, therefore, means that some sort of collective consensus has to be reached.

By the way, since we have a $1-trillion estimated budget for the new fiscal year, could some of the money be allotted to form a sub-branch of the Ministry of Education and Youth to be called the Ministry of Higher Education and Research? Since the Government has found its way to appoint Dr Rocky Meade as ambassador plenipotentiary, it tells us that it has the power to get many other things done, but perhaps only things to their liking.

Educators should also consider the precarity surrounding their jobs. The future of education is digital. Will this put some teaching jobs at stake?

Oneil Madden is interim chair/head of Department of Humanities and lecturer in language(s) and linguistics at Northern Caribbean University. He is also a PhD candidate in applied linguistics at Clermont Auvergne University, France. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or maddenoniel@yahoo.com.