SINGAPORE — Artificial intelligence (AI) tool ChatGPT could be useful in the learning process only when students have mastered basic concepts and thinking skills, Education Minister Chan Chun Sing said in Parliament on Monday (Feb 6).

Mr Chan compared the potential use of ChatGPT in the classroom to the way a calculator provides support for students learning mathematics but does not replace the need for them to first master the fundamentals of the subject.

"In a more uncertain world, we must also teach our students to embrace and learn to work with tools in the new normal that have a range of outcomes beyond a deterministic outcome like (that achieved by) a calculator," he added. 

Mr Chan was responding to parliamentary questions by several Members of Parliament (MPs) during a parliamentary sitting on Monday. 

ChatGPT from OpenAI, a United States company, uses AI to generate streams of human-like text from prompts from users.

Its release has sparked a global debate on whether its content could mimic human responses and yet defy earlier techniques to identify cheating by students such as the use of algorithms to detect plagiarism.

ChatGPT's content is "original" in that it does not simply regurgitate other material online.

MPs expressed concern that the program may lead to potential abuse or encourage students to cheat. 

Dr Wan Rizal, MP for Jalan Besar Group Representation Constituency (GRC), asked if there are cases of cheating among students in schools and Institutes of Higher Learning (IHL) in relation to ChatGPT.

He also asked about the measures being put in place to detect plagiarism.

Dr Tan Wu Meng, MP for Jurong GRC, also asked if AI technologies such as ChatGPT are expected to affect the coursework of students.

He also asked what is being done to inculcate skills so that human workers can remain competitive amid advances in AI. 

In response, Mr Chan said that schools and IHLs adopt a range of practices to guard against the misuse of technology.

For instance, students are taught the importance of integrity and the harmful impact and consequences of plagiarism in their daily work. 

Teachers also use multiple modes of assessment to gauge students’ proficiency and detect uncharacteristic responses that could be AI-generated, said Mr Chan. 

For IHLs, the varied modes of assessment such as examinations, presentations and field notes prevent such content from being generated easily by AI technology. 

A variety of strategies are also adopted to detect plagiarism in assignments, including technological tools to detect content generated by AI technology.

Mr Chan added that these approaches will necessarily evolve over time and educators will also help students understand how AI tools like ChatGPT work.

"As ChatGPT can provide inaccurate or biased output depending on its inputs, students need to be discerning and critically assess its output for accuracy and objectivity," he said. 

Mr Chan also said that during the learning process, it is not about simply coming up with an answer to submit.

This was in response to a supplementary question by Dr Lim Wee Kiak of Sembawang GRC on whether policies related to cheating using AI tools are "clearly spelled out" in schools. 

Mr Chan said what is more important is the process of finding the answer and how one derives it. 

"If some tools can help you to derive a better answer, so be it. But we expect all our students to declare truthfully where the sources of information may come from," he said. 

On ensuring that students' skills remain relevant, Mr Chan said that schools and IHLs equip students with skills such as cross-cultural skills and digital competencies. 

"These skills are not easily replaced by technological tools, and acquired through leadership roles...and various forms of experiential learning," he said.