The use of ChatGPT is prohibited in a French university due to problems of fraud and plagiarism

Sciences Po, one of the top French universities, has banned the use of ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence-based chatbot that can generate coherent prose, to prevent fraud and plagiarism.

ChatGPT is a free program that generates original text on virtually any topic in response to a prompt, including articles, essays, jokes, and even poetry, which is raising concerns across industries about the plagiarism.

The university said on Friday that the school sent an email to all students and professors announcing a ban on ChatGPT and all other AI-based tools at Sciences Po.

“Without transparent referencing, students are prohibited from using the software for the production of any written work or presentation, except for specific course purposes, under the supervision of a course leader,” Sciences Po said, without specify how it would follow usage.

ChatGPT has already been banned in some public schools in New York and Seattle, according to US media, while several US universities have announced plans to do fewer home assessments and more hand-written essays and oral exams.

Sciences Po, whose main campus is in Paris, added that the sanction for using the software can go as far as exclusion from the establishment, or even from French higher education as a whole.

“ChatGPT software raises important questions for educators and researchers around the world, regarding fraud in general, and plagiarism in particular,” he said.

Last week, Microsoft announced a new multi-billion dollar investment in OpenAI – the artificial intelligence research lab behind ChatGPT – building on a bet it made on OpenAI nearly four years ago. , when it committed $1 billion (around Rs. 8,200 crore) to the Elon Musk co-founded startup of Tesla and investor Sam Altman.

© Thomson Reuters 2023