Nadia Okamoto attends the UN’s NOVUS #WeThePlanet forum on September 21, 2019 in New York City. Rob Kim/Getty Images, Novus
Generational attitudes toward AI in classrooms on Tuesday flipped luckat the Brainstorm Tech conference.
Generation Z audiences expressed skepticism about the long-term educational benefits of AI, saying ChatGPT can do nothing but spit out correct homework answers, while Chegg’s Baby Boomer CEO Dan Rosensweig was unusually enthusiastic about AI’s ability to help students with their schoolwork.
“I was a Chegg user, not because I wasn’t interested in learning, but because I got the answers to the questions,” says Nadia Okamoto, a 2021 Harvard graduate. I have met many young students who were not necessarily interested in using ChatGPT for their studies. They use it because it makes it easier for them to finish their homework. ”
Chegg is an education company that provides subscription services to help students with their homework and studies. The company’s business has recently been threatened by the likes of OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard, which offer the same service for free. In May, the company said its business was threatened by a “massive surge” in interest in generative AI among students who make up its customer base, despite strong first-quarter earnings. lost 49% of its value in minutes. . In the same interview, Rosenweig called himself “the archetypal kid getting kicked in the butt by AI.”
Rosensweig was at Brainstorm Tech also to announce the company’s foray into generative AI with its virtual learning assistant Cheggmate.
“We will find out next Tuesday exactly what you are learning, and provide it at the level you learn best, in the language you learn best, in the format you learn best, and prove it. “You’re improving,” Rosensweig said of Chegmate.
In theory, the benefits of tools like Cheggmate are geared specifically to help students with their academics, as opposed to tools like ChatGPT and Bard, which were designed with a wider range of applications in mind. That’s it. “Unlike ChatGPT, Chegg doesn’t work for you, it works at your level so you can master it,” said Rosensweig. luck on mail. “Chegg is focused on students who want to use their education to improve their opportunities, not students who want shortcuts.”
But Okamoto, 25, founder of Period, a nonprofit that aims to end period stigma and eliminate tampon taxes, said Cheggmate and other AI tools will only be used for knowledge-seeking. I was skeptical of his expectations. Ultimately, these tools create little incentive for students to actively engage with course materials, she said.
“My concern as a Gen Z elder is that these kinds of tools make it easier and easier to get honest answers, and I feel like curiosity is becoming less of a priority. That’s it,” said Okamoto.
Okamoto used his own experience to explain how raising funds in a pre-seed round for a startup in his junior year left him unable to concentrate on his studies. She turned to Chegg because it was “easy” and “a C gives you a degree.” Okamoto did not respond to a request for comment.
Rosensweig countered that Okamoto was “thinking in the wrong direction,” explaining that Chegg was made for the type of student who doesn’t have the same level of resources as students at elite universities.
“I don’t care what the Harvard kids did,” he said. “I care about children trying to make their lives better.”
According to Rosenweig, Chegg’s students are historically “underserved students.” [their] school system. ” They may also have a slightly unconventional college life, such as needing to work 20 to 40 hours a week to pay for their studies. There may be
“My view is that our school is built for self-directed students,” he said. “People who want to learn should graduate with the skills.”
He went on to call academic institutions “lazy,” blaming universities for not updating their curriculum and professors for not writing more thoughtful exam questions that ChatGPT prompts couldn’t answer.
[This article has been updated with a comment from Chegg CEO Dan Rosensweig.]
