UK tech minister supports use of ChatGPT for homework, compares AI fears to calculator launch

A hot potato: Since the widespread adoption of ChatGPT, there have been concerns about children using the tool and other AIs to do their schoolwork. But the UK's tech minister recently said that it was fine for schoolkids to use the technology for homework, and even compared fears around the arrival of generative AI to those that followed the launch of calculators.

Peter Kyle, the UK's Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, doesn't believe in following the lead of other institutions by implementing outright bans or heavy restrictions on the use of AI among students.

Speaking on the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Kyle was asked if he thought it was okay for a child to use AI to complete their homework. "Actually with supervision and used in the right way, then yes, because ChatGPT and the AI technology that is using language is already being used across the economy."

Kyle added that he remembers having a similar conversation about calculators when they launched. When the devices first became commercially available in the 1960s and 1970s, it was feared that calculators would lead to the erosion of basic math skills, critical thinking, and problem solving, while also enabling students to cheat. Similar concerns have been raised with regards to generative AI.

Calculators were, of course, eventually integrated into education, something that Kyle believes should also happen with AI tools.

"We need to make sure that kids and young people are learning how to use this technology," he said.

The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, as well as Imperial College London, all prohibit the use of AI tools for assessed work. But Kylie believes it could help those younger students who struggle in traditional teaching environments. He added that the tools could be used to help neurodivergent children overcome barriers.

"There are kids with real talents in outlier talents and using ChatGPT and other AI assistance could really turbo charge and give them a challenge they're not getting in other places," he said.

The New York City Department of Education (NYC DOE) banned the use of ChatGPT in public schools in January 2023, but it reversed its decision a few months later, saying it would focus on integrating AI tools into the educational curriculum

2023 also saw some educators go back to focusing on "ChatGPT-proof" pen-and-paper tests. A computer science professor at St. John's University in New York required students in her introductory course to handwrite their code, with paper exams accounting for a larger portion of the overall grade. The plan doesn't seem to be working well: a report last August found that cheating using ChatGPT in schools had reached endemic levels.