Generative AI

- a primer

Version 1.1
May 22 2023
Contents
3 Introduction

4 An introduction to the generative AI technology

8 Impact of generative AI on education

13 Regulation

13 Summary

14 Further reading

14 Relevant Jisc blogs

3 | 1. Introduction

1. Introduction

Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT are already having a significant impact on education. These
tools are posing considerable challenges around assessment and academic integrity, but also present
opportunities, such as saving staff time by helping with the creation of learning materials or
presenting students with new tools to enhance the way they work. The impact of generative AI is
being felt far beyond education, and it is already starting to change the way we work. This presents
more challenges and opportunities, in making sure education prepares students for an AI-augmented
workplace, and that assessments are authentic yet robust.

This primer is intended as a short introduction to generative AI, exploring some of the main points and
areas relevant to education, including two main elements:

• An introduction to generative AI technology

• The implications of generative AI on education
4 | 2. An introduction to the generative AI technology

2. An introduction to the
generative AI technology

Key points
• AI text generators such as ChatGPT are trained on a large amount of data scraped from the internet, and work by
predicting the next word in a sequence
• All AI text generators can - and often - do produce plausible but false information, and by their nature will produce
output that is culturally and politically biased
• Bing Chat and Google Bard work in a similar way to ChatGPT, but can access information from the internet, and are
aimed more at being search tools
• Image generators such as Midjourney and DALL-E 2 are similarly trained on data scraped from the internet
• Many other applications are being developed that make use of generative AI technology

Whilst we do not need a detailed technical understanding of the technology to make use of it, some understanding
helps us understand its strengths, weaknesses, and issues to consider. In this section, we will be looking into the
technology in a little more detail.

This is a fast-moving space, and the information here is likely to age quickly! This edition was written in May 2023, and
we aim to update it regularly to take into account significant developments.

This guide starts by looking at AI text generators, also known as Large Language Models (LLMs).

2.1 ChatGPT
ChatGPT has grabbed most of the headlines since its launch in November 2022. It was created by a company
called OpenAI, which started as a not-for-profit research organisation (hence the name) but is now a fully
commercial company with heavy investment from Microsoft. It is available as a free version, plus a premium
version at $20 a month, which provides faster, more reliable access, as well as access to its latest language
models and features, including plugins, which changes its behaviour significantly.

ChatGPT is based on a machine learning approach called ‘Transformers’, first proposed in 2017, and is
pre-trained on large chunks of the internet. This gives it the ability to generate text in response to user prompts,
hence the name ‘Generative Pre-trained Transformer’. Whilst OpenAI provided some information on the
approach for training ChatGPT, they haven’t so far released any information about GPT-4, the latest model
released in early 2023.

Screenshot taken
from ChatGPT.
5 | 2. An introduction to the generative AI technology

In its standard mode without plugins, ChatGPT works by predicting the next word given a sequence of
words. This is important to understand, as it is not in any sense understanding your question and then
searching for a result and has no concept of whether the text it is producing is correct. This leads it prone
to producing plausible untruths or, as they are often known, hallucinations.

As it stands today, the free version of ChatGPT doesn’t have access to the internet, so can’t answer
questions beyond its training data cut-off date of September 2021. Users paying for the ChatGPT Plus
service have access to a version that can access the internet.

ChatGPT Plus customers also have access to plugins which extend ChatGPT’s functionality. For example, a
Wolfram plugin allows users to ask questions which are answered by Wolfram Alpha, which excels at
mathematical and scientific information. Initial testing suggests this might resolve the issue of
‘hallucination’ in these domains. Many other plugins are available, and more are being developed.

OpenAI makes its service available to other developers, so many other applications make use of it,
including many writing tools such as Jasper and Writesonic, as well as chatbots in popular applications
such as Snapchat.

2.2. Microsoft Bing Chat, Google Bard and Anthrompic’s Claude

Although ChatGPT has got most of the hype, there are other players in this space, and this number is likely
to increase.

Microsoft has introduced Bing Chat, which is available for testing, and is based on Open AI’s GPT-4. It’s
focused on searching for information and does have access to the internet. It takes your question,
performs one or more web searches based on your question, and will then attempt to summarise and
answer, giving references for the sites it uses.

Bard is Google’s equivalent and is available for testing. Like Bing Chat, it can access the internet, but unlike
Bing Chat, it doesn’t provide references for the sites it’s used to give its answers.

Claude is more similar to ChatGPT and is produced by Anthropic, and is likely to be built into many
applications going forward.

Bing Chat – note how it

has provided links to
websites it has used.

Screenshot taken from

Bing Chat.
6 | 2. An introduction to the generative AI technology

At the moment, both Google Bard and Claude feel a long way behind ChatGPT in terms of capabilities,
although at the time of writing, Google has just announced significant improvements, so this may change
quickly.

Screenshot taken from

Google Bard.

2.3. A summary of key capabilities, limitations, and concerns around ChatGPT and
other large language models
In considering generative AI, it’s important not only to understand its capabilities but also its limitations. We
also believe users should have a broader understanding of the societal impact of generative AI. Some of
the key themes are summarised here:

Capabilities Limitations Concerns

It can write plausible sounding text on It can generate plausible It can and does produce biased
any topic but incorrect information output (culturally, politically etc)

It can generate answers to a range of ChatGPT is only trained on It can generate unacceptable output
questions, including coding, maths- information up until Sept
type problems and multiple choice 2021 (but those with the
paid ChatGPT Plus service
have access to a version
that can access the
internet)

It is getting increasingly accurate and Limited ability to explain the It has a high environmental impact,
sophisticated with each release sources of information for concerns around human impact and
its responses (this varies ownership of training material
between Chatbots)
It generates unique text each time you Security and privacy concerns around
use it the way users’ data is used to train
the models

It’s great at other tasks like text There is a danger of digital inequity
summarisation
7 | 2. An introduction to the generative AI technology

2.4 Image Generation

It’s not all about text – image generation tools have made huge progress too, particularly with Midjourney,
DALL-E 2 and Stable Diffusion.

As for the text generators, these have been trained on information scraped from the internet, and there is a
lot of concern about the copyright of the training material.

These work in a similar way to text generators – the user gives a prompt and one or more variations of
images are produced.

Image generation capabilities are being incorporated into general AI services, so Bing Chat, for example,
can also generate images, using OpenAI’s DALL-E 2.

2.5 Microsoft Co-pilot and everyday AI

There is a lot more to generative AI than just accessing it via the ChatGPT web service. The developers of
major AI services such as OpenAI make their services available to other developers. One of the most
significant announcements has been from Microsoft, who are incorporating generative AI across the
Microsoft 365 tools, under the name ‘Co-pilot’. At the time of writing, (May 2023) the licensing terms
haven’t been confirmed, but it is likely that this will put generative AI directly into the hands of all our staff
and students with access to Microsoft 365. Google have made similar announcements about their office
tools.

2.6 Beyond Chatbots

Whilst the focus has been on chatbots and image generation, generative AI is finding its way into a wide
range of tools and services that can potentially be used in education. As an example, Teachermatic can
create a range of resources for teachers, including lesson plans and quizzes, Gamma can create websites
and presentations, and Curipod can create interactive learning resources. Many of these applications are
built on tools provided by OpenAI and powered by the same technology as ChatGPT.
8 | 3. Impact of generative AI on education

3. Impact of generative AI
on education

Key points
• Initial concerns are focussed on assessment and academic integrity
• The immediate action is for all staff to engage with generative AI and try it themselves, learning how
their assessments will be impacted
• There are many other ways generative AI can be used beyond simply producing work for assessment.
• Generative AI is going to be increasingly used in the workplace
• Generative AI is likely to be pervasive, so banning it isn’t an option

The impact of generative AI in education is still unfolding and is likely to for some time to come. Key areas
include assessment and academic integrity, its use in teaching and learning, use as a time-saving tool, and
use by students.

Jisc has convened a number of working groups with representatives from universities and colleges to help
us collate and present more detailed advice in these areas, particularly around sector-level advice,
assessment and advice to students, and we’ll share more information from these groups over the coming
weeks.

Here we will now give an overview of the core themes.

3.1 Assessment
Initial discussions about generative AI have focused on assessment, with the concern that students will
use generative AI to write essays or answer other assignments. This has parallels with concerns around
essay mills. These concerns are valid, and whilst essays produced wholly by generative AI are unlikely to
get the highest marks, their capability is improving all the time.The ability isn’t just limited to essays.
ChatGPT is also highly capable of answering multiple-choice questions and will attempt most forms of
shorter-form questions. It will often fall short - especially when answers are highly mathematical - although
this will not be obvious to the student using the chatbot service.

There are three main options, each with their own challenges. There is broad acceptance that ‘embrace and
adapt’ is the best strategy in most instances.
9 | 3. Impact of generative AI on education

Strategy Approach Challenges

Avoid Revert to in-person exams This moves away from authentic assessment and
where use of AI isn’t possible creates many logistical challenges

Outrun Devise an assessment that AI AI is advancing rapidly and given the time between the
can’t do assessment being set and it being taken, AI might well
be able to do the assignment when it is taken

Embrace and Embrace the use of AI, discuss Balancing authentic assessment and use of generative
adapt appropriate use of AI with AI with academic integrity is a challenge
students, and actively
encourage it’s use to create
authentic assessments

The immediate action is for all staff to engage with generative AI and try it themselves, learning how their
assessments will be impacted. Alongside this, institutions will need to consider their strategic approach to
AI, review, and update policies, and communicate guidance to students.

For higher education, this aligns with guidance provided by QAA, and for both higher education and further
education, general guidance has been provided by the Department for Education. In addition, the Joint
Council for Qualifications has produced guidance for protecting quality of qualifications.

3.1.1 Guidance on advice to students

We are seeing the first guidance to students appear. Getting the wording on this can be challenging, and is
discussed further in a Jisc blog post ‘Considerations on wording when creating advice or policy on AI use’.
Our key messages are:

• Don’t try to ‘ban’ specific technology or AI as a whole

• Describe acceptable and expected behaviours and provide examples
• The detail of advice will vary between subjects, so supplement general advice with tailored advice for
the subject

A Jisc-convened working group is looking at best practices in this area and will be sharing its outcomes
shortly.

3.1.2 The role of AI detectors

Discussions about academic integrity inevitably include the role of AI detection software. There are a
number of tools in this space, but for most UK universities and colleges, Turnitin’s newly released AI
detection tool will be the obvious tool to consider. The key things are:

• No AI detection tool can conclusively prove that text was written by AI

• These tools will produce false positives
• The tools won’t be able to differentiate between legitimate and other use of AI writing tools

Best practice for using such tools is still being considered and developed across our sectors, and we will
aim to provide examples as these develop.
10 | 3. Impact of generative AI on education

3.2 Use in learning and teaching

We are seeing a wide range of ideas for how to use generative AI in learning and teaching. It’s worth
remembering at this point that it is a fast-moving space and many of the tools are still under development
or at the beta stage. Whilst exploration makes a lot of sense, it’s also worth noting that individuals shouldn’t
feel the need to rush into using it in teaching. Things are changing rapidly, but now is definitely the time to
explore and start planning.

3.2.1 Examples of use by students

We welcome the fact that student voices have been brought into the discussion around generative AI, for
example ‘Generative AI: Lifeline for students or threat to traditional assessment?’. Jisc has run a number
of student panels and will be reporting the findings in more detail in the near future.

Examples of uses by students:

Use Considerations

To formulate ideas, for Generative AI tools are generally effective in producing outlines as a starting
example creating essay point for an assignment
structures

To provide feedback on Generative AI will proofread and correct text for students, in a similar way to
writing grammar tools. It will also provide feedback on style and content. Students will
need clear advice on when this should be declared

As a research tool A good understanding of the tool and its limitations is crucial here, particularly
the tendency for generative AI to give misinformation

Generating images to The best image generation tools come at a cost, and students need to be
include in assignments. aware of copyright concerns
11 | 3. Impact of generative AI on education

In section 2.3 we noted that digital inequality is a concern. For example, students that pay for ChatGPT Plus
get faster, more reliable access, as well as access to the latest model, and those that pay, for example, for
MidJourney image generation will get more and better images than most of the free options. At the
moment there are limited options for licensing these tools institutionally, but we expect this to change, and
consideration should then be given to licensing options to avoid inequality.

3.2.2 Examples of use by teaching staff

If used appropriately, generative AI has the potential to reduce staff workload. For example by assisting
with tasks such as lesson plans, learning material creation, and possibly feedback. The key words here are
‘appropriately’ and ‘assisting’. In section 2.3 we noted some of the limitations of generative AI, such as
incorrect information, so as things stand today, generative AI can assist by - for example - generating initial
ideas, but its output should always be carefully reviewed and adapted.

Use of generative AI might be directly using a general chat app such as ChatGPT, or via an application built
on top of generative AI, such as Teachermatic. In the former case in particular staff will need good
prompting skills to make the most of generative AI.

Use Considerations

Drafting ideas for lesson plans and other activities The output may be factually incorrect, or lack
sound pedagogical foundations. Nonetheless, it
may be a useful starting point

Help with design of quiz questions or other exercises. Generative AI can quickly generate multiple choice
quizzes and assessment ideas, but they should be
reviewed carefully as above

Customising materials (simplifying language, Generally, when asked to customise material,

adjusting to different reading levels, creating tailored generative AI won’t introduce new concepts, and so
activities for different interests) is less likely to introduce factually incorrect
information

Providing custom feedback to students. At the moment, generative AI should not be used
to mark student work, but it can be a useful tool for
assisting with personalised feedback

3.2.3 Examples of uses to avoid

In general, you should avoid posting any work that isn’t your own, and any personal information into ChatGPT, as
it might well be used as part of the training data.

Things get a little more complex when considering tools built with ChatGPT, and it is almost certain that
generative AI built into tools like Microsoft 365 will have the same data privacy protection as the rest of
12 | 3. Impact of generative AI on education

Use Reason

Marking student work This is no robust evidence of good performance, although ChatGPT
will confidently do this if you ask

Detecting whether work is written ChatGPT might claim it can detect whether it wrote text, but it can’t
by AI

Anything involving personal You should never put personal information into any system that a
information University or College hasn’t got a proper contract in place with and
made a full assessment if it’s data privacy policies etc. Generative AI
services like ChatGPT are no exception

3.3 Adapting curriculum to reflect the use of AI in work and society

We are seeing a broad acknowledgement that work will change too, but understandably limited action
around this at the moment.

OpenAI has done some initial research on the impact of LLMs and jobs and has estimated that ‘around
80% of the U.S. workforce could have at least 10% of their work tasks affected by the introduction of LLMs,
while approximately 19% of workers may see at least 50% of their tasks impacted.’ A 2021 report by the
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy looks more broadly at jobs affected by AI, both in
terms of those likely to be automated and growth areas.

In the short term, we expect generative AI to be quickly adopted into courses where it quickly becomes the
norm in the workplace. For example, visual arts make use of generative AI, and computer coding makes
13 | 4. Regulation

4. Regulation
Given the pace of change, regulation has struggled to keep up. In the UK, the government has published an
AI white paper which aims to balance regulation and enabling innovation. The paper makes explicit
reference to generative AI and large language models. The US government have produced a Bill of Rights
and the EU’s AI act is working its way through the European Parliament. The proposed UK approach will
look to regulate the use of AI, rather than AI technology itself, through the work of existing regulators,
against a common set of principles. As progress is made in this area we will endeavour to highlight any
areas of particular concern for education.

5. Summary
Generative AI is progressing rapidly and is likely to have a significant impact on education for the
foreseeable future. Keeping up with the advances is a challenge, and balancing authentic assessment and
academic integrity is increasingly complex.Nonetheless, with care and an increase in staff and student
knowledge, there are substantial gains to be made. This guide aimed to give a broad introduction to
generative AI. Much more has been written on the topic, and for those that wish to explore further, we have
included a range of resources for further reading.

Keeping updated:
To keep up to date with the work of Jisc’s National Centre of AI in Tertiary Education,
join our Jisc mail list: [email protected].
14 | Further reading

Further reading

Generative artificial intelligence in education –

Department For Education (March 2023)

Maintaining Quality and Standards in the ChatGPT Era:

QAA Advice on the Opportunities and Challenges Posed
by Generative Artificial Intelligence – QAA (May 2023)

ChatGPT and Artificial Intelligence in higher education

– Unesco (April 2023)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Use in Assessments:

Protecting the Integrity of Qualifications – JCQ (March
2023)

Relevant Jisc Blog Posts:

Staff and student use:

Generative AI: Lifeline for students or threat to
traditional assessment?

Means. Motive, Opportunity: A Composite Narrative

about Academic Misconduct

Considerations on wording when creating advice or

policy on AI use

AI Detection:
Jisc
AI writing detectors – concepts and considerations
4 Portwall Lane,
Bristol BS1 6NB
A short experiment in defeating a ChatGPT detector
0203 697 5860
[email protected]
Bias and other ethical considerations:
jisc.ac.uk
Hidden Workers powering AI

License: CC BY-NC-SA
Exploring the potential for bias in ChatGPT
How to Explore AI Image Generation

Using Generative AI:

Getting started with ChatGPT Part 1 – Understanding
ChatGPT

How to Explore AI Image Generation