ChatGPT is a good assistance for teachers: Educational specialists

ChatGPT artificial intelligence software may enable teachers and education managers to improve their performance instead of disrupting their jobs, experts said on February 13.

The demographical design of the generative AI program ChatGPT. Photo: AFP/VNA

ChatGPT has demonstrated exceptional AI capabilities but will not replace humans in the near future, according to Ta Hai Tung, Dean of the Faculty of Information and Communication Technology at Hanoi University of Science and Technology.

"The program is only possibility-based. It cannot think critically and creatively like a real person," he told a workshop on ChatGPT, and its impacts on the education sector held in Hanoi.

"Therefore, we should only treat it and use it as a teaching aid. ChatGPT uses open data sources on the internet, so its answers may be controversial and need cross-checking," he said.

The Ministry of Education and Training may think of a project that trains ChatGPT to answer questions using Vietnamese data sources, Tung added.

According to education specialist Le Thong Nhat, teachers can perform better in class using ChatGPT, and the program can serve as a teaching aid.

"Teachers will have another channel or consultant to ask for advice and opinions," he said.
However, he noted that the teachers must be able to evaluate the information and data carefully to make the final decision.

In this regard, Phung Viet Thang, Deputy General Manager of Microsoft Vietnam, said that teachers need to improve their skills to use ChatGPT and guide the program in the way they want.

"The efficiency and performance of the assistant depend on the user's competencies," he says.

In contrast, Nguyen Bao Quoc, deputy director of HCM City's Education and Training Department, worries that overuse of AI and AI applications such as ChatGPT could cause students to lose their problem-solving skills.

In addition, the use of the program may make students less interested in other socializing and skill training activities, he said.

He added that these concerns might prompt teachers to use technologies to develop their teaching and assessment skills.

Therefore, the education sector needs to develop a digital skills framework for teachers and students, thus improving teaching and learning activities, Quoc urged.

At the event, Deputy Minister of Education and Training Hoang Minh Son said that teaching is still an important job, but it will change with the development of technologies and that there is now a great new opportunity to make the most of them.

"It is best to use the application frequently. ChatGPT will negatively affect the industry if it is not given a proper approach," he said. "ChatGPT is pretty good at consolidating information and data but is incapable of creating new knowledge."

The deputy minister said that the ministry would proceed with in-depth studies of the program, adjust current regulations, and develop appropriate solutions in the future.

AI-powered program ChatGPT was introduced to global communities in late November 2022 by the US-based tech firm OpenAI, using generative AI. As of the end of January, the program reached 100 million users worldwide.