Universities were already in a tricky spot. They went from elite institutions offering intellectual edification to the upper crust of society to broad institutions promising job opportunities to everyone (yes, many shades of grey here, but I'm talking directionally).
University diplomas have long stopped being entry tickets to the upper middle class, but most people still go to university for the job opportunities (at least ostensibly).
When AI obviates the work that a diploma used to reward, the meaning of diplomas will be further watered down.
For universities to keep their standing, I wouldn't be surprised to see more hand-written in-person exams or exams that look more like a thesis defence, where the written deliverable is just the starting point, not the thing being graded.
Well there is a solution.. and that is to have ai itself to evaluate the intellectual quality of the papers and their uniqueness and then ask the students sufficient question to verify that they understand the topic and their own vision.
What difference does it make how the acquired the knowledge if the understand it and have a grasp of their ideology...
My high school kid reports that repeatedly on Chem tests a kid has his phone hidden under a calculator case and slides it out to AI the question, copies down then answer and shows it to the friends around him. And their marks are very high, higher than my kid who studies quite hard. I've said this will bite them in the future, but maybe if they get into uni ahead of my kid then I guess, maybe not.
In other words it's a problem when poor students have the same advantage as rich students. The goal of education is to teach or to extract money and decide social hierarchies?
University diplomas have long stopped being entry tickets to the upper middle class, but most people still go to university for the job opportunities (at least ostensibly).
When AI obviates the work that a diploma used to reward, the meaning of diplomas will be further watered down.
For universities to keep their standing, I wouldn't be surprised to see more hand-written in-person exams or exams that look more like a thesis defence, where the written deliverable is just the starting point, not the thing being graded.
What difference does it make how the acquired the knowledge if the understand it and have a grasp of their ideology...
I’m also worried about what this does to kids, but am I just being the “you won’t always have a calculator” guy?
Homework maybe.
But what about a simple, open book test without a cellphone?
Reciting facts easily obtained from a cellphone is not really "knowledge", it's memory. Professors may need to move beyond this in their testing.
The real test of "knowledge" is can you identify what information is required and then use/apply it to achieve some goal or purpose.