21th Ethical Forum of the University Foundation
 

ChatGPT and other AI: to be cheered or feared ? 

Artificial Intelligence takes many forms. One of those of widest relevance for our universities is the chatbot application ChatGPT, launched in November 2022 by the San Francisco-based company OpenAI. In a matter of seconds, it can produce texts that sound like well-informed answers to any possible question, react to users’ objections and summarize long texts.

Its potential is evident. But it raises many ethical concerns. One of them is that ChatGPT draws directly or indirectly on countless open-access publications produced by scholars throughout the world. It could therefore be accused of taking unfair advantage of their work. For unlike Wikipedia, ChatGPT does not mention its sources and it is expected to rely, once fully operational, on a lucrative business model.

Another concern is that the texts it produces, concise or richly developed, provide students with all they need to perform many tasks currently assigned to them as homework, tests or exams.   

The purpose of this Ethical Forum is to stimulate reflection on all this:

Should the irruption of ChatGPT and similar applications be cheered or feared by our universities?

Should the potential they offer be embraced or rejected?

Organizing committee 

P. Van Parijs (coordinator), J.M. Chaumont, E. De Keuleneer, M.C. de Marneffe, B. De Munck,

H. Garmyn, P. Goethals,  J.P. Lambert, Q. Michel, B. Seghers, D. Willems, J. Willems.

Participation is free of charge, but advance registration is requested.

The registration form will be made available in November