“Artificial intelligence (AI) is basically developed to improve the quality of human life because it has extraordinary transformational power, starting from the aspects of education, health, economy, public policy, governance, and others. However, just like new things in this world, apart from bringing novelty and benefits, it turns out that AI also opens a window for things that have the potential to be disruptive,” said Prof. Harkristuti Harkrisnowo, S.H., M.A., Ph.D. as the Chairperson of Universitas Indonesia Professors Council (DGB UI), on Saturday (25/3), in a webinar entitled “Ethics of Using ChatGPT in the Academic Environment”.
Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer (ChatGPT) is an AI product that was created to satisfy human curiosity about everything. ChatGPT has developed very rapidly since the first generation was introduced in 2018, and the fourth generation ChatGPT was finally released in 2023, whose capabilities are more than 10 times that of the first generation.
In the field of education, students can ask ChatGPT exam questions from any field of knowledge. It can even be used for writing essays by simply entering certain keywords. Even so, ChatGPT’s very high capabilities can be said to be a double-edged sword, meaning that they both bring the positive side in the form of extraordinary convenience for students in education and the negative side in terms of technological limitations, ethical issues, and even humanity restrains.
According to Professor of the Faculty of Computer Science UI, Prof. Drs. Heru Suhartanto, M.Sc., Ph.D., from the benefits of ChatGPT, there are about 80 ways to utilize ChatGPT in the classroom with its adequate ability, speed, and accuracy of providing information. This was echoed by Head of the Webinar Committee Prof. Dr. Ir. Riri Fitri Sari, M.Sc., M.M., who said that ChatGPT can be used to produce good quality text through the concept of Reimagine Education.
“This is because ChatGPT has the ability to answer questions with high accuracy and retrieve information from external resources, such as Wikipedia. In addition, ChatGPT can also be used to translate text from one language to another with good accuracy and has the ability to complete incomplete texts using the context and information provided,” said Prof. Riri.
However, there is a dark side to the use of ChatGPT which must also be considered, such as misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation which have an impact on legal and ethical issues. In fact, multilevel legal issues at the global and national policy levels have been identified. One of the bad consequences of using ChatGPT is that the information provided is not 100% accurate because the data taken from the internet is insufficient. This incompleteness can be due to a lack of context.
According to Professor of Fasilkom UI, Prof. Dr. Wisnu Jatmiko, M. Kom.Eng., ChatGPT is smart but can misunderstand context which results in incorrect output. ChatGPT is trained with data, and if the data is biased, the machine will be biased too. In addition, the use of ChatGPT which is not quite right can also diminish students’ critical thinking. In fact, one of the most valuable things students can develop is critical thinking. “If the answers to all the questions are always at their fingertips, they don’t feel the need to think for themselves. For example, if students use ChatGPT to write an essay for them, they will not try to form their own original ideas and are also considered committing plagiarism,” said Prof. Wisnu.
Observing the bright and dark sides of using ChatGPT, Lecturer at the Faculty of Humanities (FIB) UI, Dr. Fuad Gani, S.S., M.A., mentioned the need for being wise in using ChatGPT. Higher education institutions cannot be separated from future competition, especially in terms of technology, so they must continue to strive to produce graduates who are ready to face future challenges. He said, “Universities should accept that AI will always be utilized. AI tools will continue to evolve and become increasingly important in a variety of disciplines. Therefore, universities need to issue flexible and broad guidelines because AI technology will develop rapidly.”
At the webinar, Chairman of the Board of Trustees (MWA) UI, Dr. (H.C.) Noni Purnomo, B.Eng., M.B.A. and Member of Academic Senate (SA) UI, Prof. Dr. -Ing. Kalamullah Ramli, M.Eng., were also present to share comments. MWA expressed its encouragement for the use of AI technology as an enabler for the benefit of human beings. Meanwhile, SA UI is aware of its role in accordance with the UI Statutes in supervising the implementation of the Three Pillars of Higher Education, including the impact of using ChatGPT. Therefore, it is advisable to formulate university-level regulations regarding ethical enforcement of the use of AI technology.
Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Abdul Haris also highlighted that the phenomenon of technology and ChatGPT as a double-edged sword must be used carefully and wisely. The deans who attended included Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy Prof. Dr. apt. Arry Yanuar, M.Si.; Dean of the Faculty of Nursing Agus Setiawan, S.Kp., M.N., D.N; Dean of the Faculty of Law Dr. Edmon Makarim, S.Kom., S.H., LL.M; Dean of the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (FISIP) Prof. Dr. Semiarto Aji Purwanto; and Dean of the Faculty of Psychology Dr. Bagus Takwin, M.Hum., Psikolog, also commented on the issue of ChatGPT.
Some of the responses from the deans included changes or adjustments to the education and learning paradigm to prepare students for the presence of technology, including ChatGPT. The learning process that trains the art of writing and the art of argument cannot be replaced by technology. Therefore, it is necessary to emphasize the importance of higher-order thinking, especially from the aspect of human intelligence which cannot be replaced by technology. UI needs to reimagine education by utilizing the bright side of ChatGPT technology, while at the same time minimizing the dark side of ChatGPT technology in the world of education.
The webinar organized by Committee I and Committee V of DGB UI and moderated by Professor of FIB UI Prof. Dr. Bambang Wibawarta, M.A., also provided notes regarding regulation at the level of Law (UU) as has been implemented in several countries. This also needs to be explored in relation to existing laws, including the Law on Science and Technology. These notes were summarized by Prof. Dr. Sudarsono Hardjosoekarto from FISIP UI and Prof. Dr. dr. A. Fauzi Kamal, SpOT(K) from the Faculty of Medicine UI.
Author: Sasa
