Is ChatGPT Cheating? Panel on GenAI in K-12 Education
At the fourth annual AI Connect K-12 Data Science Conference in 2024, a panel of educators and data professionals said ChatGPT is a tool, not automatically cheating. They urged schools to teach citation, critical thinking and human oversight while teachers use AI to reduce workload.
By The AI Enterprise Magazine Team4 min read
Key takeaways
- Cheating is about use. Panelists said the line is crossed when students claim AI-generated information as their own without disclosure.
- Teach citation. Pirzada said educators need to teach students how to reference AI tools, as they teach other citations.
- Humans train the models. Kariuki said diverse human input matters because models reflect who trains them.
- Teachers gain time. Enterprise AI platforms could cut teacher workload and give students tutor-like support.
- Keep the human inside. Clavo urged technologists to keep the human element in the systems they build.
Is using ChatGPT cheating? At the fourth annual AI Connect K-12 Data Science Conference in 2024, a panel of educators and data professionals said it depends on how the tool is used, and that schools should teach students to use it well. Ginger Baxter of Chapman University moderated the virtual discussion with Henry Clavo of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Sachin More of Dollar General, Taj Pirzada of Nike and Deborah Kariuki of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
What is ChatGPT, and is using it cheating?
Pirzada described ChatGPT as technology that mimics intelligence. It is trained on a huge amount of historical information and works by trying to put the next word in a sequence, much like predictive text in an email. If it is a tool, he said, the question becomes whether using a tool is cheating.
Clavo said it depends on how a classroom defines it. He recalled learning math without a calculator so that he understood the mechanics before automating them. If classrooms set the standard that students use AI to augment their abilities rather than hand over their work, he said, they get the benefit. "We take something from it not take something away from us," he said.
Kariuki said it is not really cheating because the information is similar to what a Google search turns up, only in a more organized package. The line is crossed, she said, when a student claims the information as their own without saying where it came from.
How are large language models trained, and why does it matter?
Kariuki, who trains teachers, explained that large models are trained by humans, so the information they produce is not coming out of computers on its own. That raises questions about who the humans are and what they intend. She said models should be trained with input from diverse people. A model trained mostly by people in America, for example, would miss the rest of the world.
Baxter said the quality of questions matters too. Both Clavo and Pirzada mentioned problem solving, she said, and students in K-12 are learning to be structured problem solvers who ask the right questions.
How should students cite AI?
Pirzada said the workplace differs from school, where students are taught to be specific about sources. In business, he said, noting that a draft was rewritten with ChatGPT is useful because it signals that some content may not be real. He pointed to hallucinations, including invented legal cases.
He argued that educators need to be taught first how students should reference AI, as they once taught citations. Educators, he said, would know the answer to how to cite it better than he would.
How can enterprise tools help teachers?
Baxter raised the problem that teachers may want a tool that the school system has not adopted. Clavo said enterprise platforms can lighten teachers' workload on lesson plans, freeing them for higher-level, creative work. Students can use tools such as ChatGPT or Claude as a tutor when a teacher is not available, he said, as long as the tool augments learning rather than doing the work.
Baxter described a product she had demoed for graduate business students, Breakout Learning, in which AI moderated small-group discussions and scored them on a rubric so the instructor could see who needed intervention. She also pointed to virtual reality as a way to reach higher-order thinking.
What are the risks and opportunities of AI in schools?
More said users should be careful about what they share and should check the legitimacy of anything an AI produces before passing it on. At Dollar General, he said, information security is a priority and the company has governance in place. Copilot tools generate code templates that serve as references, not production-ready code, he said.
Baxter said these tools have opened access to education, including for students with learning differences, through text-to-speech and speech-to-text. She cited a 2020 World Economic Forum projection that automation and AI would affect 1.2 billion workers over the next decade, and said jobs would change rather than disappear. Her advice was to "lean into it."
What advice did the panel leave for the next generation?
- Pirzada: Empower teachers, because "the kids are going to use it anyway."
- Clavo: Train the next person, and "always keep the human inside" the technology.
- Kariuki: AI will not take your job, but people who understand it and keep learning might. She said students still need to learn programming and that teachers should make assignments personal so students bring themselves into the answer.
- More: Do not rely entirely on AI. Bring critical thinking and use books alongside it.
Explore more with AI Connect
AI Connect continues to host conversations about AI in the workplace and education through its 24 free live webinars on the 2027 schedule, in four series: the AI × Enterprise Panel Series, AI Demo Days, Agentic AI Showcases and the Plug & Play Series. See the webinars page for details. Registration for 2027 events is coming soon.
Frequently asked questions
Is using ChatGPT cheating in school?
Panelists said it depends on how a classroom defines it. Kariuki said it becomes cheating when students claim AI-provided information as their own without saying where it came from.
How should students cite ChatGPT?
Pirzada said educators first need to be taught how to reference AI tools and then teach students, as they do with other citations.
How can AI help teachers?
Clavo said enterprise platforms can reduce teachers' workload on lesson planning, and AI tools can serve as tutors when a teacher is unavailable.
Will AI take jobs from today's students?
Kariuki said AI will not take your job but people who understand it and keep learning might. Baxter said automation will change jobs rather than eliminate them.
This article is based on remarks by Ginger Baxter, Chapman University (moderator); Henry Clavo, CFPB; Sachin More, Dollar General; Taj Pirzada, Nike; Deborah Kariuki, University of Maryland, Baltimore County at AI Connect K-12 Data Science Conference 2024 on July 25, 2024. More coverage: More AI Connect Events.
Filed under: People, Culture & Leadership, AI Governance & Trust, AI Use Cases & Applications
