Focus at Four: How ChatGPT is changing business and higher education

BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) - There is a new form of artificial intelligence technology making waves in business and higher education.

ChatGPT was developed by OpenAI and launched in November 2022.

According to the company, it is trained to follow instructions in a prompt and provide a detailed response.

Education experts say ChatGPT can offer real-time, one-on-one guidance to students by answering questions and providing personalized feedback on projects and assignments.

“Right now, we are so early in the adoption process of the technology. A majority of users are just experimenting with it,” said Beata Jones, a Professor of Professional Practice at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. “The fields of journalism, media, publishing, real estate workers, architecture, financial advisors, every industry has really taken to ChatGPT.”

Experts say there are several benefits of ChatGPT in higher education, including personalized mentoring, content creation, and communication skills development.

Jones teaches a core business information systems class and an information systems development course at Texas Christian University and has included ChatGPT in her curriculum.

“My students have used it in class since day one,” said Jones. “At first, about half of them knew about the technology. Now, almost all of them have a ChatGPT account and we use it in the classroom for various assignments to help us brainstorm ideas, students use it at home to get assistance with homework when I’m not available.”

Despite concerns about cheating or plagiarism, Jones encourages other educators to use the ChatGPT technology as an educational tool.

“There are certainly a lot of opportunities for students to take shortcuts, especially since we’re doing the same things that we have been doing for years,” said Jones. “I think it’s up to the professors to educate students about proper and improper use of the technology, especially for the entire assignments, and then for the faculty to learn how the technology can augment learning and make it more effective for them and for the students.”

PWC predicts artificial intelligence will add $15.7 trillion worldwide to the global economy.

“I think in the short term we’re going to see artificial intelligence augmenting our jobs, making our drudgery work go away,” said Jones.

You can watch the full interview from First News at Four in the video player above.

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