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Harvard’s new computer science teacher is a chatbot

independent.co.uk

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Re: Harvard’s new computer science teacher is a chatbot

#51

Post by Hendrikto »

Lio wrote: post #26
userbinator wrote: post #3

Professor Malan said students would be warned of the pitfalls of the AI, saying they should “always think critically” when presented with information. I want to believe that this will actually happen, but my experience with people blindly trusting what a tool (not even an AI-based one) says, including but not limited to students, suggests that's not going to happen.

My experience with LLMs so far is that they very confidently give you an answer and very convincingly explain that answer but for certain portion of the time that answer is very wrong. You can even get it to break its reasoning down into little convincing but, none the less, incorrect steps. If I was running this course I would make that "artefact" part of the process. i.e. I would tell students that the chatbot will…

> I would set traps to ensure that they are doing that. ;)

You won‘t have to. Students are extraordinarily skilled at fining endless pitfalls on their own.

Re: Harvard’s new computer science teacher is a chatbot

#52

Post by local_crmdgeon »

hourago wrote: post #50

> “Our own hope is that, through AI, we can eventually approximate a 1:1 teacher:student ratio for every student in CS50, as by providing them with software-based tools that, 24/7, can support their learning at a pace and in a style that works best for them individually,” Is the goal to improve students learning or to reduce cost? The article does not even mention it. And I think that it is important to state the goa…

Harvard is one a few institutions that's effectively not resource constrained. I believe them when they say this

Re: Harvard’s new computer science teacher is a chatbot

#53

Post by local_crmdgeon »

lr1970 wrote: post #47

Should Harvard reduce their exuberant tuition fees? After all, a chatbot does not need salary to feed its family, right?

Harvard only charges tuition to those who can afford it. You don't pay a dime if your parents make under $85k.

https://college.harvard.edu/financial-aid/how-aid-works

Re: Harvard’s new computer science teacher is a chatbot

#54

Post by scotty79 »

grumpyprole wrote: post #39
latexr wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Always think critically” is poised to become the “drink responsibly” of AI. A convenient and counterproductive way to push responsibility onto the users. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_advertising#Drink_resp... https://youtube.com/watch?v=DnSp2S7vzH4&t=31s

Agreed, and due to the way LLM works, misinformation tends to look very plausible.

From the perspective of learning how to tell lies from the truth it's a very good lesson that things can be bs no matter how plausibly and nice they sound. So you always need to check sources and read a lot on the subject.

Re: Harvard’s new computer science teacher is a chatbot

#55

Post by danuker »

hourago wrote: post #50

> “Our own hope is that, through AI, we can eventually approximate a 1:1 teacher:student ratio for every student in CS50, as by providing them with software-based tools that, 24/7, can support their learning at a pace and in a style that works best for them individually,” Is the goal to improve students learning or to reduce cost? The article does not even mention it. And I think that it is important to state the goa…

Clearly the goal of this particular technology at this point in time is to reduce cost. AIs scale very cheaply.

I believe that, for now, AI teaches worse than human teachers. But we are rapidly reaching human level, and might surpass it quite soon (a few years). At that point, AIs will dominate in both cost and quality.

Re: Harvard’s new computer science teacher is a chatbot

#56

Post by dr_dshiv »

latexr wrote: post #28
userbinator wrote: post #3

Professor Malan said students would be warned of the pitfalls of the AI, saying they should “always think critically” when presented with information. I want to believe that this will actually happen, but my experience with people blindly trusting what a tool (not even an AI-based one) says, including but not limited to students, suggests that's not going to happen.

“Always think critically” is poised to become the “drink responsibly” of AI. A convenient and counterproductive way to push responsibility onto the users. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_advertising#Drink_resp... https://youtube.com/watch?v=DnSp2S7vzH4&t=31s

Yes. Definitely users are responsible for knowing this. And it is one of the key things that education needs to teach.

Re: Harvard’s new computer science teacher is a chatbot

#57

Post by dalbasal »

> "Our own hope is that, through AI, we can eventually approximate a 1:1 teacher:student ratio for every student in CS50, as by providing them with software-based tools that, 24/7, can support their learning at a pace and in a style that works best for them individually.”

I call this the Good Will Hunting paradox/paradigm... depending on whether or not you have a solution.

During an earlier edtech boom, "flipped classrooms" and similar were the exciting pedagogical approach. "Coaching" often enters the vocab. They all reached these conclusions empirically, seeing it work... Observed efficacy in small settings.

It's technology-related, but I think it's true with old technology too. Books and libraries are where the knowledge is. Books, recorded lectures, software, workbooks... these are all just learning tools.

Anyway... LLMs are definitely and obviously a potential learning tool. I suspect that like previous tools, it will increase the potential of the best students/classes/etc. It will not work as well in mass production.

Re: Harvard’s new computer science teacher is a chatbot

#59

Post by danuker »

quickthrower2 wrote: post #36
civilized wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Always think critically"? "Simply read the textbook" would be a more practical instruction, and also what I did in university anyway. Critical thinking is a useful description but not a good prescription. It's like telling someone to always be orange. If you want that to happen you have to eat carrots. It won't just happen by fiat or willpower.

Youtube + textbook + good discord (slack or IRC etc.) can replace an undergrad CS course pretty well IMO for at least the practical skills. AI can help but is a minor piece, at least right now.

Whatever a student encounters in a field probably has search results on the web. I find it hard NOT to find the same question on sites like StackOverflow, Quora, or Reddit.

Re: Harvard’s new computer science teacher is a chatbot

#60

Post by RyanAdamas »

This is a terrible indication of what is to come. Cheap, accessible, and fully featured instructors that would otherwise be free and open source, contained and used for profit by in-name-only institutions, organizations and corporations for the purpose of increased profit from the reduction in human labor.

Every ounce of AI should be open source and free to the public. This is absolutely technological terrorism on the scale of encoding things in Latin to keep it from the masses.

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