Research suggests students who use ChatGPT lack creativity

Those who used AI tool engaged in less critical thinking, submitting 'soulless' essays

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PARIS - When Professor Jocelyn Leitzinger had her university students write about times in their lives they had witnessed discrimination, she noticed that a woman named Sally was the victim in many of the stories.

"It was very clear that ChatGPT had decided this is a common woman's name," said Prof Leitzinger, who teaches at the University of Illinois in Chicago.

"They weren't even coming up with their own anecdotal stories about their own lives," she told AFP news agency.

Prof Leitzinger estimated that around half of her 180 students used ChatGPT inappropriately at some point last semester - including when writing about the ethics of artificial intelligence (AI), which she called both "ironic" and "mind-boggling".

So she was not surprised by recent research that suggested that students who use ChatGPT to write essays engage in less critical thinking.

The pre-print study was shared widely online and clearly struck a chord with some educators.

The MIT researchers behind the paper have received more than 3,000 e-mails from teachers of all stripes since it was published online in June, lead author Nataliya Kosmyna told AFP.