As AI and chatbots get more sophisticated, educators and students are getting savvy too

This segment aired on March 27, 2023

If you’re a parent or an educator, you’ve probably heard the warnings: Beware of the chatbot! It’s an artificial intelligence algorithm that lets web users type questions into a text box to be answered by a “chat robot.” It can be as simple as “where’s the nearest sushi restaurant?” or complicated as “How does jealousy influence Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’?”

Concerns include students using the bots to generate their homework as well as providing inaccurate or biased answers, gleaned from untrustworthy sites. Not to mention, recent cases where bots derailed altogether, telling one tech writer that his wife didn’t love him.

This is why some educators are confronting the issues head-on, exploring the dangers and benefits of AI with their students. Here & Now’s Robin Young talks to computer science teacher Marisa Shuman from The Young Women’s Leadership School in New York and 17-year-old student Jahde Leon.