“Once the tech matures, I’m confident it’ll be generally regarded as the third consumer tech revolution of the 21st century (the other two being the smartphone and social media).” – Alberto Romero, AI & technology analyst

Since ChatGPT exploded into the zeitgeist in late November 2022, the implications, limitations, and educational potentials of generative artificial intelligence (AI) have been a continual source of discussion at the School. TCS faculty and the board of governors have engaged in presentations on the topic, and different classes in the Senior School have discussed the potential biases present in technology that generates text and images based on massive internet datasets. See Stuart Grainger’s blog post this week and a recent online presentation for parents for more on this topic.

One playful benefit of image-generating AI tools such as DALL-E, Stable Diffusion, and Midjourney is the ability to create compelling visuals based on specific prompts. For example, the header on Edsby, the School’s learning management system, is now a gallery of original polar bear images:

Images created via Midjourney

Some of the most exciting journalism related to generative AI comes from futurists and tech-watchers predicting how business, education, civil society, and our fundamental interaction with technology will change in the coming years.

Two particular elements we will be exploring at TCS are:

1. The impacts on concepts of authorship and academic integrity in a world of ChatGPT.
2. How can we best equip students to understand and use this powerful technology?

Authorship and academic integrity
As students are reminded in chapel, at TCS, we complete our work with integrity and submit it on time. Asking a generative AI tool to create your work, and submitting that product as your own, is unacceptable. We ask for this message to be reinforced at home as it is at school. Indeed, the College Board has made it explicitly clear that using AI tools constitutes an “exam violation” in an Advanced Placement assessment task context.

We are also seeing the potential of AI tools to assist with synthesis, summarizing, and aid in studying; use cases where the technology may help student learning. Generative AI will undoubtedly become another learning tool (see calculators, search engines, Google Translate, Wikipedia, PhotoMath, etc.) The important message we are sharing with students is that these technologies are helpful tools but cannot replace the incredible utility of building our skills of writing, researching, critical thinking, empathy, collaboration and creativity, to name but a few.

Future skills
In his thoughtful piece “Prompt Engineering Is Probably More Important Than You Think,” author Alberto Romero posits that prompt engineering is an essential area for future skill development. The skill involves understanding the subtlety of creating written prompts that elicit the user's desired text or image from the generative AI tool. For image tools, the context of words in a prompt is key; as an example, how one asks for an image of a “hot dog” changes the result pretty significantly:

Romero argues that being able to “speak” the language of effective AI prompting will be a differentiating skill in coming years:

“Prompt engineering could be as important in the future as knowing how to speak English is today (all fellow non-native English speakers will agree that it’s quite a differentiating skill for us). In the end, not many people know how to conduct pancreatic surgery (aka programming), but we all know how to ask a stranger for directions. If AI systems ever achieve a generally accepted status of copilots – or even partners – those who speak their language will enjoy a comfortable place.”

As the implications, limitations, and possibilities of generative AI unfold – and every week seems to bring new revelations – TCS will continue to strive to ensure our students are well-prepared to think critically and understand the possibilities.

Further reading and listening to explore the world of generative AI

• “Generative AI ChatGPT As Masterful Manipulator Of Humans, Worrying AI Ethics And AI Law”
• “Prompt Engineering Is Probably More Important Than You Think”
• “The Bing Who Loved Me, and Elon Rewrites the Algorithm” (podcast)
• “Educators battle plagiarism as 89% of students admit to using OpenAI's ChatGPT for homework”

By Myke Healy, assistant head of Senior School - teaching & learning