Scanning the headlines for international perspectives on ChatGPT in schools: The Chat GPT six month anniversary edition Part 3

IEN’s Thomas Hatch shares some international perspectives on the uses of ChatGPT in school by scanning headlines from around the world since the launch of ChatGPT on November 30, 2022.  This post is Part 3 of a series that began with ChatGPT on ChatGPT in education: Clear summaries and fake citations and Ban it or Use it: Scanning the headlines. A future post will discuss the potential of AI in education more broadly. 

ChatGPT’s release reverberated around the world. Articles about the potential and problems with the use and misuse of Chat GPT appeared across countries and continents, often focusing on concerns over privacy, cheating, and other ethical considerations.

Global

OpenAI CEO calls for global cooperation to regulate AI, CNN Business

“’As these systems get very, very powerful, that does require special concern, and it has global impact. So it also requires global cooperation,’ Sam Altman said at an event in Seoul.”

What countries is ChatGPT available & not available in?, WE PC

The official ChatGPT app is now available in 11 more countries, Tech Crunch

Africa

The future of ChatGPT in Africa, Context

“AI technology can change the education landscape in Africa to increase access to both formal and informal education, improve access to healthcare services considering the facility and resource limitation of Africa’s health sector and increase job creation due to expansion into the AI global market.”

Australia

@PipCleaves shares a ChatGPT prompt for teachers and students, featured in The Guardian

Australian schools ‘flying blind’ on use of ChatGPT and other learning technology, The Guardian

“The president of the New South Wales Teachers Federation, Angelo Gavrielatos, said the capacity to use artificial technology to plagiarise, coupled with prolonged learning from home during Covid lockdowns, highlighted the need for a ‘more comprehensive’ interrogation of the ‘rise and rise’ of edtech in the classroom.”

Australian states block ChatGPT in schools even as critics say ban is futile, The Straits Times

“Education experts have largely called for ChatGPT and other such programs to be allowed in schools, saying that banning them was like banning Google or other technologies and that AI software can help students to learn and to think creatively.”

South Australia Public Schools and Universities Embrace ChatGPT, Edge of the Crowd

“Rather than avoiding or banning them, it’s far more beneficial for teachers to explore and experiment with them to get a better sense of what is possible.”

Canada

Teachers are split on bringing ChatGPT into elementary, high schools, CBC

“Educators must teach students ‘when and where and how to use’ new technologies, says math teacher.”

China

AI frenzy sweeps China as companies search for their own ChatGPT, Nikkel Asia

China’s students leap ‘Great Firewall’ to get homework help from AI bot ChatGPT, Young Post

“Thomas Lau, a college admissions counsellor in the eastern city of Suzhou, said more than two dozen students he works with have dropped out of language cramming schools and opted to prepare with ChatGPT. But the tool has created new problems. ‘I run all the personal statements and other application materials written by students through software to detect whether parts of it have been written using AI,’ Lau said. ‘Many fail the test.’”

Cyprus

Alnstein, the robot powered by ChatGPT

Hello AInstein! Robot with ChatGPT shakes up Cyprus classrooms, Reuters

“Tutors say the ultimate purpose of AInstein is to incorporate it into teaching. ‘It’s a very interactive experience. Students can ask him questions, he can answer back and he can even facilitate teachers to deliver a lesson more effectively'”

Europe

ChatGPT sparks data protection debate in Europe, Euractiv

“Italy became the first country in the European Union to ban the software and launch investigations into the software’s provider OpenAI over alleged General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) breaches and failure to check the age of its users. OpenAI allegedly processed personal data without informing users and individuals and may lack a legal basis for the extensive data collection used to train its AI models.”

Germany

Germany Could Block ChatGPT if Needed, Says Data Protection Chief, VOA Europe

Japan and the United States

Use ChatGPT at work? Just 7% do in Japan, vs. half in U.S.: Survey, Nikkel Asia

Jordan

World’s first WhatsApp math tutor chatbot helps Jordanian students bounce back from pandemic gaps, The Jordan Times

“Through a low-cost, interactive and convenient chatbot named Darsel, which operates on both WhatsApp and Messenger, seventh-grade public school students are provided with customised math equations. The chatbot assesses each student’s strengths and weaknesses in math, evaluates their level and sends a weekly report to their math teacher.”

Malaysia

University students in Malaysia study using ChatGPT

AI tools help make studying a breeze, say university students, Asia News Network

“‘I used to dread coding based on horror stories from my seniors on how they spent hours searching for bugs in the code but now it barely takes me a few minutes to do so,’ [student] said, adding that he had begun using ChatGPT for non-academic matters as well.”

Netherlands

Dutch privacy watchdog asks ChatGPT for “clarification” on data, Dutch News

“The AP said it has concerns about the information GPT ‘generates’ in its answers. ‘The generated content may be inaccurate, outdated, inappropriate or offensive and may take on a life of its own,’ the AP said. ‘Whether and how OpenAI can rectify or delete that data is unclear.'”

New Zealand

ChatGPT: How teachers are bridging AI tech into the classroom, Stuff

“It’s a form of digital literacy and critical thinking. It’s our duty as educators to firstly become educated ourselves and then teach our students how to be literate in this new space.”

Singapore

Singapore teachers brace for more cheating by students using viral bot ChatGPT, AsiaOne

South Korea

How will ChatGPT affect English learning in Korea?, The Korea Herald

“‘It’s definitely disruptive technology – a lot of teachers’ resources and even a good portion of language learning textbooks are irrelevant now. But most teachers I talk to are more excited about the time they’ll save rather than the money,’ he said, adding that a few colleagues are using the bot to quickly draft lesson plans, quizzes, study guides and text samples.”

Switzerland

Swiss teachers attend a workshop on ChatGPT

How Swiss teachers are taking on ChatGPT, The Local

“[s]tudents from wealthier, more well-educated families have always benefitted from homework polishing, ChatGPT could simply be ‘leveling the playing field.'”