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Conversations around the use of ChatGPT in Education are everywhere right now. One of educators' biggest concerns is whether or not using ChatGPT to develop responses for assignments is considered plagiarism. According to the Terms of Use for OpenAI, users that generate content for the system own that content. This means that the content is not plagiarized.
Here are the Terms of Use for OpenAI:
"You may provide input to the Services ("Input"), and receive output generated and returned by the Services based on the Input ("Output"). Input and Output are collectively "Content." As between the parties and to the extent permitted by applicable law, you own all Input, and subject to your compliance with these Terms, OpenAI hereby assigns to you all its right, title and interest in and to Output. OpenAI may use Content as necessary to provide and maintain the Services, comply with applicable law, and enforce our policies. You are responsible for Content, including for ensuring that it does not violate any applicable law or these Terms."
To test this, I decided to use ChatGPT to write a blog post about this topic. The prompt and the blog post are below. Take a look and let us know your thoughts!
Prompt: write a blog post about whether or not using ChatGPT to write an assignment is plagiarism
"The rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology has brought about significant changes in various aspects of our lives, including education. One of the most remarkable AI technologies is ChatGPT, a large language model developed by OpenAI. ChatGPT is capable of generating coherent and sophisticated language responses to various prompts, and many students may wonder whether it is ethical to use such technology to write their assignments. In this blog post, we will explore the question of whether using ChatGPT to write an assignment is considered plagiarism.
Plagiarism is the act of presenting someone else's work as one's own, without proper attribution or citation. It is a serious academic offense that can result in severe penalties, including failing a course or even expulsion from school. Plagiarism can take various forms, such as copying and pasting from a source without proper attribution or paraphrasing without giving credit to the original author.
In the context of using ChatGPT to write an assignment, the issue of plagiarism arises because the AI system generates the content for the student. However, it is crucial to note that ChatGPT does not have its own ideas or original thoughts; instead, it relies on the vast corpus of text that it was trained on to generate its responses. Therefore, the output produced by ChatGPT is not unique and can be reproduced by anyone with access to the same corpus of text.
In essence, using ChatGPT to write an assignment is not considered plagiarism as long as the student properly cites the sources used by the AI system. The student must make it clear that the content was generated by ChatGPT and provide the appropriate references to the corpus of text used by the AI system. In this way, the student acknowledges the contribution of ChatGPT to the assignment and avoids presenting the content as their original work.
It is also essential to note that using ChatGPT to write an assignment does not guarantee a good grade. While the AI system may generate coherent and sophisticated language responses, it may not fully meet the requirements or expectations of the assignment. Moreover, the AI-generated content may lack the originality and creativity that many instructors value in academic writing.
In conclusion, using ChatGPT to write an assignment is not plagiarism as long as the student properly cites the sources used by the AI system. However, it is important to remember that AI-generated content should not be seen as a shortcut to academic success. Instead, students should use AI technology as a tool to complement their learning and enhance their writing skills. By doing so, students can reap the benefits of AI technology without compromising academic integrity." (Henderson, 2023)
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