Teachers v ChatGPT: Schools face new challenge in fight against plagiarism

SINGAPORE - Teachers in Singapore say they will likely have to move from assignments requiring regurgitation to those that require greater critical thinking, to stay ahead in the fight against plagiarism. This comes on the back of the rise of ChatGPT, an intelligent chatbot that is able to spin essays and solve mathematical equations in seconds. ChatGPT, developed by San Francisco research firm OpenAI, is being talked about as a major step forward in artificial intelligence (AI), especially its latest version released in November. Simple and free of charge – for now – the chatbot has prompted some schools to start thinking of ways to mitigate cheating, ahead of students' return to schools. ChatGPT's ability to break down complicated concepts into simple language and respond to follow-up questions logically has raised concerns over whether existing plagiarism detection software used in schools, such as Turnitin, can sniff out text drafted by bots.