AI tools are increasingly being used by students in their studies and research. According to a report published in May in the Economics and Forecasting journal, a research team at the National Economics University (Hanoi) found that 78.92% of students in Hanoi use ChatGPT to study. The study also found that students improved their academic performance after using ChatGPT.
Students are increasingly using AI for learning and scientific research
Another report published in the Education magazine in January concluded that 89.2% of students from 6 member schools of Ho Chi Minh City National University used the free version of ChatGPT for purposes such as looking up information and documents on study and research topics; translating and explaining specialized terms; doing exercises...
AI SHORTENS RESEARCH TIME
Nguyen Dinh Minh An, a psychology student at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City), said he uses AI to get an overview of the research situation because AI synthesizes information quickly. "In a short time, AI can suggest a general overview of the topic I am studying. Then, from AI's suggestions, I dig deeper into scientific articles or reputable research projects," An shared.
TNQ, Faculty of Information Technology, University of Science (Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City), also believes that AI speeds up the research process, especially in the evaluation stage of machine learning models. "During the experiment, I need to check the source code used to install the machine learning model and evaluation program. If I look up or search for a solution myself, it will take me a long time to detect errors in that source code. Thanks to AI, errors can be identified faster," Q. said.
In addition, according to VP, a student at a private university in Ho Chi Minh City, AI also helps shorten the time it takes to write reports. "I now only need about 12 hours to complete a report, compared to at least 3 days before using AI," P. said.
POTENTIAL RISK OF PLAGIARISM
Dr. Truong Thanh Cong, Head of the Department of Data Science, University of Finance and Marketing (HCMC), said that there is currently no official document regulating the use of AI, especially Generative AI, in education and research in Vietnam. Meanwhile, universities in Vietnam are in the process of developing policies on this issue.
In the world, Dr. Cong cited the results of a study on the AI landscape in 2024, published by the EDUCAUSE Organization in May, saying that about 77% of higher education institutions do not have an AI policy through a survey of experts from more than 900 educational institutions.
However, some universities have put AI detection tools into use. However, a study published in the International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education in September by authors from British University Vietnam (BUV) and James Cook University (Singapore) showed that students can trick AI detection tools to cheat. According to the research results, the average accuracy of AI detection tools is only 39.5% when detecting AI-generated texts. In particular, when these texts are added with spelling errors or arbitrary repetition of words, the accuracy of the tool drops to 22.14%.
Speaking to Thanh Nien , the representative of the research group, Dr. Mike Perkins, Head of the BUV Research and Development Center, advised students to be transparent about the use of AI. "Students declaring that they use AI in their research and presenting how the tool supports them is an honest way of doing things. I believe that AI should be used in a way that helps us achieve many goals instead of just completing goals in a shorter time. The emergence of AI is not intended to completely replace our efforts," Dr. Perkins emphasized.
MSc. Nguyen Thanh Luan, lecturer at the Faculty of Business Administration, Ho Chi Minh City University of Foreign Languages and Information Technology, shared that he once discovered a case where a student asked AI to write content. "In this case, the student violated scientific integrity by using a tool to write for him. Since there are no specific sanctions, I only asked the student to rewrite or remove this content," he said.
According to Master Luan, AI's writing style is easily recognized because of its polished expression with big words, such as holistic perspective, by virtue of, notwithstanding... "Although students can take advantage of AI to support each research stage such as researching topics, synthesizing research situations or writing reports, I advise you to conduct research yourself to improve your research capacity and academic writing skills," he shared.
Dr. Nohman Khan, Executive Director of Connecting Asia (Malaysia), told Thanh Nien that although the use of AI is inevitable and this tool has the ability to support researchers in writing reports and scientific articles in a short time, they are at risk of plagiarism without knowing it. To avoid this, Dr. Khan advised researchers to pay attention to checking citations, rephrasing and not copying verbatim.
MSc. Nguyen Thanh Luan, lecturer at Faculty of Business Administration, Ho Chi Minh City University of Foreign Languages and Information Technology
HOW TO USE AI PROPERLY
Dr. Huynh Van Thong, Head of the Department of Communication, Faculty of Journalism and Communication, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ho Chi Minh City, stated that AI and technological applications that support human life become convenient, effective, and useful if applied properly. In student research activities, he divided 3 levels of AI support, including manipulation, search, and inference.
AI tools help students create research overviews, summarize scientific articles...
At the first level, AI helps students perform technical operations such as calculations, statistics, presenting reference documents and editing text. "The problem lies in how students know how to exploit the tools," Dr. Thong shared.
At the second level, AI helps look up concepts, terms in research and overviews of research issues... Dr. Thong said that although AI can produce quick and comprehensive results, students should not abuse it because they may lose the habit of accessing original documents. "Whenever they encounter any problem, they ask AI to search, so students only know the surface, and even access documents incorrectly because AI can suggest wrong results. That is a manifestation of "borrowed knowledge", causing students to gradually lack a foundation in research," he said.
At the third level, AI becomes the thinker and reasoner on behalf of students through the process of suggestion and criticism. "Using AI to consult thoughts is still appropriate, but students need to be careful with the "diplomacy" of this tool because the answer is often in the direction of pleasing the user," the PhD continued.
In addition, Dr. Thong believes that the use of AI in scientific research creates conflicts in academic values. "At this point, the act of copying answers from AI is no longer technical but has become a copy of thoughts. As a result, users no longer think about the problem, and their thinking ability is eroded," Dr. Thong commented.
To overcome the above challenges, Dr. Thong suggested that students focus on developing their capacity and thinking. "At that time, students will know to what extent they should use AI, or when it is appropriate to stop using AI during the research process," he advised.
Need for national policy framework on AI use
It is inevitable that AI is used in learning and research. However, according to Dr. Truong Thanh Cong, there needs to be a national policy framework on the use of AI. "From the general policy framework, state agencies can issue circulars, decrees or specific laws. At that time, specific regulations on the use of AI in teaching and learning will be established. Once there is a complete legal framework, along with testing and assessment tools, the use of AI will become transparent and learners will be more responsible in using AI," Dr. Cong commented.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/sinh-vien-dung-ai-loi-ich-di-kem-rui-ro-18524122517221332.htm
Comment (0)