Pham Anh Duc, a second-year student majoring in International Communication at the Diplomatic Academy, started using artificial intelligence and technology software to support his studies since his first year of university.
"When I'm stuck for ideas, I'll use ChatGPT to suggest or translate sources. Based on that data, I'll expand and solve the exercises" - Anh Duc shared and affirmed that currently, most students apply AI in their studies. The frequency and method of use depends on each person's perception.
"With specialized knowledge. If we overuse and rely on AI, it is easy to make mistakes and go off topic" - Anh Duc shared.
Not only Anh Duc, AI is being trusted by many students for activities from studying to scientific research, from general subjects to specialized subjects. This leads to concerns that cheating will flourish.
According to Associate Professor Dr. Le Hieu Hoc - Head of the Faculty of Science and Technology Education, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, artificial intelligence (AI) is currently being widely applied, creating many positive values in all fields, including education and training. Teachers can use AI to support idea generation; plan highly interactive lessons, look up published documents in less popular languages; create rich teaching content, design beautiful presentations... Learners also have tools to support learning more conveniently and easily.
“For example, with ChatGPT, with smart commands, learners can be suggested topics and based on that, continue to develop content. This not only saves time but also helps students practice thinking, how to ask smart questions, and hit the mark,” Mr. Hoc gave an example.
This expert commented that although it brings many positive values, using AI incorrectly or for the wrong purpose can cause users to change from being proactive to being passive and dependent. After all, AI or any support tool is a machine and needs human inspection to ensure the accuracy of the output product.
Associate Professor Dr. Le Hieu Hoc added that the use of artificial intelligence to cheat in exams is a problem that many countries are struggling to find a solution to. For example, in Hong Kong (China), accessing ChatGPT is impossible. In some courses that require the use of AI for support, strict guidance and supervision from lecturers are required. In Vietnam, cheating detection is still mainly through the review of lecturers themselves.
“At Hanoi University of Science and Technology in general, and the Faculty of Science and Educational Technology in particular, every teacher in class discusses with students the benefits of AI, encourages them to use it in their studies, and advises them not to overuse it and to equip themselves with a solid enough knowledge base to be able to distinguish the inaccurate content that Chat GPT provides.
Students can also use AI to search for information and generate ideas when doing scientific research topics, course projects, assignments or graduation projects, but absolutely do not use it as a tool to cheat on exams. If students use AI, in addition to the school's plagiarism detection software, during the grading and reviewing process, lecturers will also detect because the sentences will be different when written by themselves and when using AI" - Mr. Hoc said.
According to Professor Ho Tu Bao - Director of the Data Science Laboratory of the Institute for Advanced Study in Mathematics, Scientific Director of the BKAI Center, ChatGPT does not understand the text it generates; it can and often generates incorrect statements. Therefore, researchers, teachers and learners need to have a critical approach to everything ChatGPT generates.
Therefore, it is necessary to thoroughly understand the potential and clearly define the boundaries of AI in education.
Professor Ho Tu Bao suggested that managers and teachers at all levels should/need to use AI to improve operational efficiency. Higher education should/need to use AI to better support vocational training. Ethical and legal education is needed to use AI safely and responsibly.
General education does not need to rush to use artificial AI, but needs to gradually introduce AI as recommended by UNESCO and the experience of some countries.
