Higher Education has been evolving since the beginning of the 21st century. Whether structurally with the “Orientation and success of students” law of 2018 which set up Parcoursup, a digital platform which coordinates post-baccalaureate choices. Or quantitatively with a significant increase of the number of people enrolled in France, whether in universities or private schools. And of course qualitatively with a growing number of specialties of the future such as in science with micro-biology or even artificial intelligence.
The latter is also popular for its outlets, but also for the influence it exerts on all higher education. AI and its applications are invading, for the better, but also sometimes for the worse, a field that has long been resistant to any change.
What is artificial intelligence?
Before providing a brief historical reminder, it is appropriate to define what artificial intelligence is. According to the European Parliament, this is any application allowing “reproduce human-related behaviors, such as reasoning, planning, and creativity”. Obviously, it is not a question of limiting ourselves to the limits of the human brain, but of surpassing it, whether in terms of speed, learning or even depth of reasoning.
When we look at the history of science, it quickly becomes apparent that artificial intelligence is a fairly recent field. Its founding fathers Alan Turing and John Von Neumann began to conceptualize it and create the first practical applications in the 1950s..
Then it was the turn of other researchers from American universities who would set up the first intelligent programs around a famous hobby to advance the sector. The relationship between AI and gaming would continue with increased use, particularly in the fields of chess and poker. Indeed, the variant called Texas Holdem is particularly interesting for researchers due to a large number of strategic parameters coupled with the need for a mathematical calculation to estimate the value of the hands throughout the draw of a game.
How artificial intelligence is positively disrupting higher education
The arrival of AI on many university campuses or in certain business schools has highlighted its benefits to students. Let us cite for example the possibility of using applications using this new technology to accomplish tasks more quickly, to automate certain boring missions or to have access to knowledge more easily.
One of the most famous tools that allows all of this is none other than ChatGPT. Developed by the company OpenAI, however in the middle of an internal crisis, it is a chatbot allowing you to answer your questions whether they are historical, cultural, philosophical or even technical.
ChatGPT, which is used by nearly 100 million people around the world, allows developers to correct their code, translate entire texts into other languages, or even cite the complete genealogy of a Capetian king. All in seconds. A feat that appears flawless on paper, but the truth is quite different…
Problems that arise without warning
ChatGPT or other tools like Google’s conversational agent (Bard) also have their negative counterparts. In the world of higher education, this is obviously the possibility of doing all your homework using AI.
Let’s take the example of a philosophy student who will have to write about an author’s point of view about a key concept. After a few lines of explanation to the chatbot, he will have a long, detailed and extremely high-quality essay without having finally written a single line. Same thing for a mathematics student who will be able to solve complicated problems and provide his teacher with an explanation of calculations that he has not even performed. A real problem of ethics, but also of skills acquisition for many students.
The arrival of AI is therefore shaking up the world of higher education and it will therefore take profound changes so that students can intelligently take charge of these new tools and so that universities and schools can adapt in a lasting manner. .
