ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence chatbot, has risen to prominence for its capability to generate college-level pieces of writing. With its introduction, the academic integrity of AI and its implications for college classrooms has become unavoidable. For Santa Clara University’s Markkula Center for Applied Ethics’ senior scholar of business ethics, Sarah Cabral, the implications of ChatGPT have caused a surge of conversations around ethical considerations in higher education.
When Cabral spoke to Higher Ed Dive, she expressed her surprise over the capabilities of AI and the difficulty of keeping up with the rapidly advancing technology. To combat cheating, some educators resorted to having students handwrite assessments in class while others considered having students start with a draft with ChatGPT and submit that along with a final one.
That being said, Cabral recognized the need for character education to the students to promote a sense of morality even when plagiarism or cheating goes undetected, which harkens back to David Foster Wallace’s famous commencement speech at Kenyon College. The speech emphasizes the choice of morality, instead of the attainment of knowledge, as a goal of an education.
As many colleges have to carefully consider the different ways they bring AI into their curriculum, it is more important than ever to build an ethical framework and have discussions around values and ethics. Additionally, specialized programs focused solely on particular areas would be more effective if paired with liberal arts education.
The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics is a non-profit organization founded at Santa Clara University in 1988. Its mission is to promote ethical reflection, discourse, and action in order to make the world a more just and compassionate place. Among the activities organized by the center are conferences and seminars, high school and undergraduate classes, dialogue circles, a speaker series, and a website that provides resources on ethical issues.
Sarah Cabral is a senior scholar of business ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. She specializes in corporate social responsibility, theory and adaptive practice, ethical leadership and decision-making, social technology & social impact, and innovation in teaching ethics. She has a Ph.D. in higher education leadership, a master’s in education, and a bachelor’s in English. Cabral is a member of the Associated Leadership Honor Society, Society of Emotional Intelligence, and Silicon Valley Leadership Group.