Can ChatGPT really write your academic assignments for you?
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing the education system. New technologies such as Chat GPT can disrupt the education system by reducing students’ motivation to study and write thesis papers. Others argue that AI can improve teaching and quality of education. In this case, Chat GPT is a great assistant that can help in research writing. Some people even believe that Chat GPT and similar AI programmes can become free dissertation writing services. This article checks whether Chat GPT can replace personal studying and positive work attitude. The article is based on a financial article about investment project evaluation. The article is generated by Chat GPT. This paper discusses limitations of the use of Chat GPT as seen from this article.
The assignment written by Chat GPT:
Critically discuss different techniques of investment appraisal
Investment appraisal is the process of evaluating the potential of a proposed investment opportunity to determine whether it is worth pursuing. There are several techniques that can be used to perform investment appraisal, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. The following are some of the most commonly used investment appraisal techniques:
- Net Present Value (NPV): NPV is the difference between the present value of cash inflows and the present value of cash outflows. It measures the net gain or loss of an investment opportunity and takes into account the time value of money. NPV is a popular method of investment appraisal because it provides a simple and straightforward way to assess the profitability of an investment.
- Internal Rate of Return (IRR): IRR is the discount rate that makes the net present value of an investment equal to zero. It measures the expected rate of return of an investment and is expressed as a percentage. IRR is often used as a measure of the viability of an investment because it indicates the return on investment relative to the cost of funds.
- Benefit-Cost Ratio (BCR): BCR is the ratio of the benefits of an investment to its costs. It is used to determine whether the benefits of an investment outweigh its costs, and is expressed as a ratio. BCR is a useful tool for investment appraisal because it provides a simple and easy-to-understand measure of the relative value of an investment.
- Payback Period: The payback period is the length of time it takes for an investment to recover its initial cost. It is expressed in years and is a useful measure of the short-term viability of an investment. Payback period is a simple and easy-to-use technique, but it does not take into account the time value of money or the expected cash flows beyond the payback period.
- Discounted Cash Flow (DCF): DCF is a technique that uses the present value of expected future cash flows to determine the value of an investment. It takes into account the time value of money and the expected cash flows of an investment over its life. DCF is a comprehensive and sophisticated technique, but it requires a high level of expertise to perform accurately and can be subject to forecasting errors.
In conclusion, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to investment appraisal. The choice of technique will depend on the specific requirements of the investment and the goals of the investor. It is important to consider the advantages and disadvantages of each technique and to use the most appropriate technique for the given situation.
Limitations of Chat GPT
Although Chat GPT can help with writing an essay on any topic, it has some limitations. The technology is good at citing existing material. However, the program does not produce original content free of citation issues and plagiarism. Effective writing is about producing original ideas. This means that it is not right to cite the book. Chat GPT does exactly this. The technology gathers a lot of information from the internet or some database to write on a specific topic. Basically, this is not effective essay writing. Critical thinking is key for a good academic paper. The technology lacks this feature. The content generated by Chat GPT can be a summary of some facts, but it does not reflect critical thinking. Therefore, it is unlikely that Chat GPT or similar systems replace education and personal writing. Now let’s discuss major arguments against the use of Chat GPT for academic writing. The following is the list of major limitations of the technology:
1). Lack of critical thinking of the technology
2). Lack of consistency with referencing styles
3). Chat GPT and plagiarism issues
4). Broken source selection for the paper
5). Theoretical constraint for the technology
6). Ethical issues of Chat GPT
7). Inadequate size of an article generated by Chat GPT
8). Formatting issues and Chat GPT
Lack of critical thinking of the technology
The AI-powered tools such as Chat GPT or others can gather information from the internet. However, they lack creativity which is inherent to effective writing. An essay must weigh different opinions on the topic and present a critical discussion of different ideas. Chat GPT can only summarise a list of facts gathered from the internet. As seen from the article, the tech provides basic information on a few techniques for project appraisal. However, it does not compare them and does discuss pros and cons f each technique. Therefore, the lack of critical thinking is the first argument against the AI-driven tech.
Lack of consistency with referencing styles
The next argument against the use of Chat GPT relates to referencing. Academic writing relies on specific rules. When it comes to referencing, there is a specific style for the paper while the technology creates content by gathering a lot of information from different internet sources. In this case, the content generated by Chat GPT does not comply with referencing styles such as APA or Harvard. The content that is not consistent with a specific style is not accepted by universities as an adequate academic paper. The article generated by Chat GPT is not of any recognised format so it is not accepted for essay writing. Therefore, the inconsistency with referencing rules create a challenge for Chat GPT and its use in academic writing.
Chat GPT and plagiarism
Another issue of the AI technology is associated with plagiarism. Chat GPT cannot create plagiarism-free content which is inconsistent with requirements for an academic paper. If there is an essay on a specific topic such as evaluation of investment projects, the technology will generate an essay on that topic. However, the next essay on the same topic will look very close or not the same as the first essay. Furthermore, the essay on a different essay topic such as investment evaluation methods will also look the same. This means that Chat GPT will create almost the same content for different essays. This is not consistent with academic writing and eliminates independent thinking from the writing process. Moreover, the technology ignores rule s on plagiarism creating plagiarised content. Therefore, plagiarism is another argument against the use of Chat GPT for academic writing.
Broken source selection for the paper
Academic writing requires a student to write a paper on a specific topic using material from a range of sources. However, it is important to note that sources must be consistent with specific rules. Chat GPT also creates content from different sources. However, a student has no control over the quality of those sources. In addition, the quality of sources is a lot lower than the requirements for an academic paper. A student needs to create an original content from a range of different sources of adequate quality. Chat GPT does provide the adequate quality of an essay when sourcing information from the internet. As seen from the article, there is a list of general facts with no credible sources. Effective writing means collection of information from academic sources with high rating. Chat GPT just collects the facts from the internet. This means that the technology cannot replace effective sourcing for an academic paper. Therefore, this is an argument against the use of Chat GPT for academic writing.
Theoretical constraint for the technology
AI technologies can help create a theoretical content for an academic paper. This can be effective for literature review or some theoretical topic. However, Chat GPT cannot write applied academic papers that involve some calculations and evaluations. In this case, the technology is not capable of estimating the value of investment project. At the same time, Chat GPT can collect information from different investment valuation methods. The information is solely theoretical and lacks critical thinking and is not suitable for an applied project. Therefore, the inability of the technology to generate content for applied papers is a significant argument against the tech.
Ethical issues of Chat GPT
Chat GPT and similar technologies help create content for academic papers. However, the technology raises the question regarding ethics of academic writing. First, Chat GPT is not suitable for effective referencing. Furthermore, the technology eliminates the need to independently collect information and critically think about the project. This creates a serious ethical issue against Chat GPT. The use of AI for academic writing undermines the quality of education. The technology cannot replace human brain and does not allow for effective and credible assessment of a student’s qualifications.
Inadequate size
The AI technology can generate an article but it is of small size to be a good essay. As seen from the sample article generated by Chat GPT, it is short for an essay. The article is about 400 words which is not enough for an effective discussion of investment appraisal methods. This article will not get a good grade partially because of its size. In addition, the discussion will not be comprehensive. Therefore, short size of an article generated by Chat GPT is another argument against this tech for writing.
Lack of depth in discussion
As it is seen, the article is short. It briefly mentions major investment evaluation techniques but this is not enough for effective discussion. The Chat GPT just touches the surface because effective discussion implies contrasting of different techniques and critical discussion of their advantages and disadvantages. The generated article just provides a basic description of each technique. It fails to discuss the limitations of each technique and does not compare them. This is important for an essay to contrast different appraisal methods to understand the best use of each. Without considering limitations, the essay will be incomplete. Hence, this article lacks depth of data analysis and discussion. This means that the AI-driven technology is not suitable for effective discussion.
Formatting issues and Chat GPT
The article is written in a bullet point format. This can be good for some websites or blogs but this is not the right format for an academic paper. This means that the article lacks credibility for an essay. The article needs to be updated and formatted to make it more consistent with academic rules. Therefore, the article’s form is an issue for its use for academic writing. The formatting is a big limitation of Chat GPT.
Summary
Modern technologies are disrupting many industries. Education is not the exception as Chat GPT and AI-driven technologies can change the way it works. The use of Chat GPT for essay writing is a great example of the technological influence on the education and its quality. The essay generated by the program is of good quality. However, it cannot be highly rated because of ethical and referencing issues. This article found six arguments against Chat GPT for academic writing. The technology is found to eliminate critical thinking that is not consistent with teaching principles. The technology also violates referencing rules and leads to poor referencing which also reduces its applicability. In addition, Chat GPT is not suitable for applied research projects. Therefore, the technology is not likely to be a threat to academic writing but an opportunity.
