How should I use AI to do my homework?
A student’s guide to ethically leveraging GPT tools
When I was a student, even though it was way before large language models (LLMs) powering tools like ChatGPT were a thing, the type of assignments we got were just as daunting. I remember the joy of being tasked with writing a 10-page essay on the deeply riveting topic of “The Evolution of the Stapler” (yes, really!). Instead of asking ChatGPT, I had to wade through the vast wilderness of Google and Wikipedia, hunting for original sources and piecing together the information myself. Ah, the good old days of manual labor!
Now, with AI at your fingertips, the landscape of homework has changed dramatically. But with great power comes great responsibility (and, let’s face it, we all want to stay on the right side of the AI overlords). So, how can you use ChatGPT to make your homework shine without crossing the ethical line? Let’s dive in!
In this blog post, my goal is to help you engage with and leverage GPT technology in a practical and responsible way. Here’s a sneak peek at what we’ll cover:
Stay with me, and by the end of this post, you’ll not only know how to make your homework sparkle with the help of AI but also how to do it in a way that’s both ethical and beneficial for your learning journey.
How Does GPT Tech Work?
So, you’ve heard of ChatGPT, but how does this magical tech wizardry actually work? Let’s break it down in a way that’s easy to understand.
The Basics: Transformers and Predicting the Next Word
At the heart of ChatGPT is something called a Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT). Imagine you’re writing a story with a friend who always knows what you’re about to say next. That’s kind of how GPT works! It predicts the next most likely word or phrase based on the context you’ve already given.
Here’s how it does that:
Embeddings: Think of embeddings as a way to represent words (or even characters and phrases) as numbers. These numbers help the model understand the relationships between words. For example, the words “king” and “queen” might be close to each other in this numerical space because they are related concepts.
Context: When you type something into ChatGPT, it takes your input as context. This context is like the start of a sentence or a paragraph that the model uses to figure out what might come next.
Prediction: Using this context, the transformer architecture predicts the next word or phrase by looking at all the possible words and choosing the one that fits best. It does this over and over, building up a response one word at a time.
Diving Deeper: Training on a Sea of Data
GPT models get really good at predicting words by being trained on a massive amount of text from the internet. This training helps them learn all sorts of patterns, facts, and styles of writing. It’s like reading every book in the library to become an expert on anything and everything.
Adding More Smarts: Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)
Now, what if you need to add some new, up-to-date information to the mix? That’s where something called Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) comes in handy.
Retrieving Data: Suppose you want to know something very specific that’s not in the model’s initial training data. RAG allows the model to pull in additional context from a separate, updated database or the internet.
Augmenting Data: Once the new data is retrieved, it gets mixed in with the existing context. This helps the model understand and integrate the new information with what it already knows.
Generating Output: Finally, with this enriched context, the model generates an output that’s more accurate and relevant to your query.
So, in simple terms, GPT uses its vast knowledge from training to predict what comes next in a conversation. When it needs more info, RAG helps it fetch new data, blend it in, and give you a well-informed answer.
An Example to Bring It All Together
Imagine you ask ChatGPT: “Tell me about the latest Mars rover mission.” Here’s what happens:
Context: Your question provides the initial context.
Prediction: GPT starts predicting the answer based on what it knows.
Retrieving Data: If it needs the latest info, it retrieves current data about Mars missions.
Augmenting Data: It combines this new data with the existing context.
Generating Output: Finally, it generates a response that includes the most up-to-date information.
By understanding how GPT and RAG work together, you can see how AI can be a powerful tool for learning and exploring new topics. I hope this understanding gives you a sense of how the misuse of this technology can borderline on plagiarism and, in some cases, be straight-up unethical and harmful.
Why Responsible AI Use Matters?
Now that you understand how GPT and RAG work, let’s discuss why using this technology responsibly is so important. There are several key reasons why ethical AI use matters, especially in an academic setting:
Academic Integrity
Using AI responsibly helps maintain academic honesty and ensures you develop your own skills and knowledge rather than relying solely on AI-generated content. This is crucial, whether or not there are tools in place to detect any infringements. Think of it as an extension of honor codes like the one at my college, which stated:
“I pledge my honor that on this examination I have neither given nor received assistance not explicitly approved by the professor and that I have seen no dishonest work.”
By adhering to this principle, you uphold the integrity of your academic work and truly benefit from the learning process.
Skill Development
Responsible use of AI allows you to enhance your critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity skills. When you use AI as a supplementary tool rather than a shortcut, you engage more deeply with the material and develop a stronger understanding. This not only helps you perform better in your current studies but also prepares you for future challenges, making you a more well-rounded and capable individual.
Ethical Awareness
Learning to use AI ethically prepares you to be a responsible citizen and user of AI technology in your future career and life. As AI continues to permeate various aspects of our lives, understanding its ethical implications becomes increasingly important. By practicing ethical AI use now, you set a foundation for making responsible decisions and contributing positively to society as technology evolves.
Practical Ways to Use GPT Tools for Homework
Alright, now that you’ve stuck with me through the important stuff, let’s dive into the fun part: rolling up our sleeves and getting hands-on with some of my favorite AI tools. As a student, you’ll learn the best ways to leverage these tools for your homework. Stick around for a step-by-step guide with a real example from A to Z. Let’s get started!
Idea Generation with MagicSchool
MagicSchool is the top AI platform for education, with over 2 million educators and their students leveraging its fine-tuned AI tools. Best of all, it’s completely free for both educators and students! If your teacher or school hasn’t adopted MagicSchool yet, be a pioneer and share it with your teachers, peers, and school administrators. Trust me, they’ll thank you for it.
MagicSchool offers a plethora of tools for students, but my personal favorite is the idea generation feature. This tool is tuned to empower you, enhancing your creativity rather than taking over the brainstorming process. Here’s a video of how you can use it:
Here’s the prompt used above:
Some entertaining and creative ideas for a history project on “The Evolution of the Stapler” that will make my classmates stapler enthusiasts by the end of my presentation.
Here’s the ideas generated:
Creative History Project Ideas to Make Your Classmates Stapler Enthusiasts:
Idea 1: Create a timeline mural depicting the key milestones in the evolution of the stapler, starting from the first known stapler design to modern-day innovative models. Include fun facts and illustrations to engage your classmates visually.
Idea 2: Host a stapler design competition where each student designs their own unique stapler prototype inspired by different historical eras. Encourage classmates to present their designs and explain the historical significance behind their choices.
Idea 3: Produce a short documentary film titled "Stapling Through Time" showcasing interviews with experts in the field, demonstrations of antique staplers in action, and a humorous skit highlighting the impact of staplers on daily life throughout history. Engage your classmates with a blend of informative content and entertainment.
And remember, you can always iterate and ask more questions to guide your brainstorming session in any direction you want. The idea generation feature of MagicSchool is incredibly versatile and can help you refine your project ideas further. For instance, if you’re intrigued by the third idea—producing a short documentary film titled “Stapling Through Time”—you can dive deeper into researching specific aspects using Perplexity in the next section. Let’s see how Perplexity can help us gather more detailed information and resources to bring this creative project to life.
Research Assistance with Perplexity
Perplexity is a powerful research tool that leverages the concept of Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG). It uses search engines to gather relevant information and combines this data with GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) to generate comprehensive and insightful answers to any question you ask. This unique blend makes Perplexity an invaluable tool for quickly assembling research and resources.
Perplexity’s ability to pull information from a wide range of sources and synthesize it into coherent responses is what sets it apart. However, it’s important to remember that the AI-generated content heavily relies on the retrieved search content. Therefore, directly copying and pasting from Perplexity’s responses would be unethical and often considered plagiarism. Instead, use the content provided by Perplexity to help draft your own unique and original content, ensuring that your work maintains academic integrity. Here’s a video building on the first idea that MagicSchool suggested:
Here’s the prompt used above:
Can you provide key milestones and fun facts about the evolution of staplers from the first known design to modern-day models?
Remember, the true power of Perplexity lies in its ability to handle follow-up questions and surface relevant sources that you can use as citations in your work. Even the content generated by Perplexity can serve as a basis for citations, helping you build a well-rounded and thoroughly researched project. It’s crucial to cite any and all resources used in your final project to maintain academic integrity and give proper credit to the original authors. So, don’t hesitate to dig deeper and ask more questions to uncover all the fascinating details and sources you need!
Writing Help with Grammarly
Grammarly is a powerful writing assistant that helps you improve your writing skills and enhance your writing style. It checks for grammar, spelling, punctuation, and style issues, offering real-time suggestions to make your writing clear, effective, and professional. Grammarly is completely free to use, with some advanced functionalities available through a paid subscription, such as the plagiarism check.
Grammarly is incredibly beneficial for anyone looking to refine their writing. Whether you’re working on an essay, an email, or a blog post, Grammarly helps you:
Catch Grammar and Spelling Mistakes: Instantly identify and correct errors to ensure your writing is polished and error-free.
Improve Clarity and Readability: Receive suggestions on how to rephrase sentences for better clarity and flow.
Enhance Vocabulary: Get recommendations for more varied and impactful word choices.
Maintain Consistent Tone: Ensure your writing tone matches your intended style, whether formal, informal, or somewhere in between.
Avoid Plagiarism: With the paid version, you can check your work for plagiarism to ensure originality.
Using Grammarly is like having a personal editor that helps you write with confidence and precision. It’s an essential tool for students, professionals, and anyone who wants to communicate more effectively through writing.
Editing and Proofreading with ChatGPT
ChatGPT is a versatile AI tool that can assist with editing and proofreading your writing. It helps refine your content by suggesting improvements in grammar, punctuation, clarity, and style. Here’s a quick overview of how to effectively use ChatGPT for these tasks.
Best Practices for Using ChatGPT for Editing and Proofreading:
Ensure Originality: Always make sure the content you provide for editing is your own original work to maintain academic integrity.
Write Clear Prompts: Provide specific instructions on what you want ChatGPT to focus on. This helps the AI give more relevant and useful feedback.
Review AI Suggestions: Carefully review the suggestions provided by ChatGPT and make sure they align with your intended message and tone.
Maintain Ethical Use: Use the AI as a supplementary tool to enhance your writing skills, not as a shortcut to avoid learning proper writing techniques.
Here’s the prompt used above:
Please edit and proofread the following paragraph for grammar, punctuation, and clarity. Ensure that the style remains informative and engaging. Here is the paragraph:
**Add relevant paragraph here**
Ethical Do’s and Don’ts
Finally, to sum up the learnings in this blog post, here are some key do’s and don’ts to help you use AI responsibly and effectively:
Do’s:
Do Use AI as a Learning Tool: Embrace AI to enhance your understanding and boost your creativity. Think of it as your tech-savvy study buddy, not a replacement for your brainpower.
Do Verify Information: Always double-check the facts and sources provided by AI tools. Just because it’s generated by a machine doesn’t mean it’s infallible—remember, even AI can have an off day!
Do Cite Your Sources: Give credit where credit is due. Whether it’s Perplexity, ChatGPT, or any other AI, make sure to include proper citations in your final work. Your teachers (and the original authors) will appreciate your honesty.
Do Ask Follow-Up Questions: Use AI to dive deeper into topics and refine your understanding. Keep the conversation going, and you’ll uncover even more valuable insights.
Do Review and Revise: Take the suggestions from AI tools like Grammarly and ChatGPT and thoughtfully incorporate them into your work. It’s your assignment, so make sure it reflects your voice and ideas.
Don’ts:
Don’t Plagiarize: Resist the temptation to copy and paste AI-generated content directly into your assignments. It’s not just unethical—it’s also a surefire way to get yourself into hot water.
Don’t Over-Rely on AI: While AI can be a great helper, it’s important to develop your own skills and knowledge. Don’t let the robots do all the heavy lifting!
Don’t Ignore Ethical Guidelines: Always adhere to your school’s honor code and academic integrity policies. Just because AI can’t snitch on you doesn’t mean you should break the rules.
Don’t Skip the Learning Process: Use AI to supplement your learning, not replace it. The journey to understanding is just as important as the destination, and shortcuts often lead to dead ends.
Don’t Forget to Have Fun: Learning and homework can be enjoyable, especially with the right tools. Keep a sense of humor and curiosity as you explore new ways to use AI in your studies.
I hope you found this content helpful and informative. Please take the poll below and leave a comment with any feedback or topics you’d like to see covered in future posts. Your input is greatly appreciated!