Met my MSc dissertation students this week. All good natured people. But the genAI rot is spreading.

About half of them do their work, and ask me questions about the problems they encounter. I advise on possible next steps. We meet again next week. All good.

But.

The other half, each of them perfectly well meaning, came back to me with questions that had nothing to do with their projects, and proposed solutions that are alien to the framework we are using. After some serious conversations, I found that in each case they had relied on chatGTP answers to their prompts. They had not read the actual papers I had given them.

Some had implemented equations that are patently false, not by error (this would be good for learning), but because chatGPT told them so.

A significant part our students can't read anymore. They need to interact with genAI, and they think this is research.

We are heading for trouble. In higher education, and in society at large.

#noAI #AcademicChatter