Many Chinese students turn to ChatGPT, which generates text through artificial intelligence, to help them with their homework, even though the app is officially inaccessible in China. Launched last November by a California start-up, This robot, capable of producing essays, poems or computer programs in a matter of seconds, causes a sensation.
(We recommend: ChatGPT: the risks of the popular artificial intelligence ‘chatbot’)
ChatGPT has sparked a flood of investors in the AI sector, but the flagship app worries teachers about the risks of cheating and plagiarism.
(Also read: Afghanistan is the most repressive country in the world for women)
In China, the application cannot be accessed without a VPN program that allows you to hide the place from which the user connects. But this does not prevent dozens of students and students, interviewed by AFP, from using it at any given time..
At age 11, Esther Chen says ChatGPT helped her cut her time on homework in half, while her sister Nicole uses it to learn English.
Esther studies in a competitive school in Shenzhen (south) and before, she spent four to five hours a day doing her homework. “Now, ChatGPT helps me do my research faster,” she says.
(You can read: China announces its economic objectives for 2023, what are they?)
The students told AFP that they had bought foreign phone numbers or downloaded the VPN to bypass Chinese digital censorship and access ChatGPT. Online, a seller offers a US number for only 5.5 yuan ($0.80). For an Indian number, it is less than 1 yuan ($0.14).
precious help
There are other solutions. On the popular Chinese messaging app WeChat, services like AI Life offer to ask ChatGPT a question in exchange for 1 yuan ($0.14).
Last month, a local media outlet reported that Chinese tech companies including WeChat’s parent company Tencent and Alibaba subsidiary Ant Group were ordered to cut off access to the program on their platforms.
Chinese state media accuses ChatGPT of spreading “foreign political propaganda.”
(Keep reading: China warns US, reiterates stance on Ukraine and Taiwan)
Esther claims not to use this tool to do the job for her. But he recognizes that his help is valuable. She recently had to finish a reading sheet about the book “Hold up the Sky”, by famous science fiction author Liu Cixin. With her week full of piano, swimming, chess, and rhythmic gymnastics lessons, Esther didn’t have time to finish the book. So she asked ChatGPT for a one-paragraph summary of each major character and major theme in the book. Then she wrote the reading sheet herself.
Students also use the program to avoid spending a fortune and time preparing for the English exams required to enter a university in the US, UK or Australia.
(You can read: China: keys to understanding the ‘two most important political sessions’ of the year)
“I didn’t want to memorize lists of words or entire conversations,” Stella Zhang, 17, told AFP.
So instead of paying up to 600 yuan ($86) per hour for a private teacher, I now use ChatGPT.
In Suzhou (south), Thomas Lau helps, in exchange for money, Chinese students who want to apply to a foreign university. But it claims to have lost dozens of customers who prefer to use ChatGPT.
The enthusiasm for ChatGPT also whets the appetite of Chinese tech giants such as Baidu, Alibaba and JD.com, which say they are preparing their own chatbot. But the authorities are wary, and Science Minister Wang Zhigang indicated last month that the state will soon introduce new regulations in this area.
AFP
#ChatGPT #banned #China #students #homework