Annotated Bibliography - Generative AI and the future of education: Ragnarök or reformation? A paradoxical perspective from management educators. (Lim et al, 2023)

Lim, Weng Marc, et al. "Generative AI and the future of education: Ragnarök or reformation? A paradoxical perspective from management educators." The International Journal of Management Education 21.2 (2023): 100790.

In the paper “Generative AI and the future of education: Ragnarök or reformation? A paradoxical perspective from management educators”, Lim et al (2023) analyzes how the advent of generative A.I. is transforming the field of education.

The authors claim that education is a field that is traditionally conservative. But the speed in which this technology is developing has caught everyone by surprise to the point of creating four paradoxes: while some see it as a ragnarok - the destruction of the education system -, others see it as an opportunity for accessible and high quality information for all.

The 1st paradox is that the author claims that Generative A.I. is at the same time a friend and a foe for the education system. It can be used to facilitate the writing of texts, code, essays and scripts, and the correction and timely feedback on a scale while the students are executing such tasks. But it can also be a foe for the education system because it poses the challenge for educators that the students might simply copy and paste the answers.

The 2nd paradox is that generative A.I. technology is at the same time capable and dependent. It can generate responses in different fields of knowledge responding to a prompt with the 3 Cs: complete, coherent and correct. However, the responses it generates are completely dependent on the inputs it receives. Thus, at least the version until January 30th 2023, was not able to correctly choose references to support its answers.

The 3rd paradox is that generative A.I. is accessible yet restrictive. It is accessible because it is on the core of ChatGPT´s mission to ensure its availability to all of humanity. It can be used by professors around the world to curate and translate knowledge for their students, for example. However, there is the risk of the companies making available for a period of time only, or to release newer versions under a paid subscription service. This would exclude those who can not afford the premium fee for having access to the better version and would widen the social-economic gap.

The 4th paradox is that generative A.I. gets more popular when it gets banned. Banning the use of ChatGPT and similar tools was the standard response from education bodies around the world at first glance. But this can have the opposite effect, because the attempt to limit the technology can lead to increased awareness and interest from users.

The authors conclude the paper mentioning that it is paramount that universities and educational bodies update their policies and guidelines regarding plagiarism and to what extent it is possible to use generative A.I. in the assignments. It is also important to embrace a culture of change to allow the students to be up to date with the future technologies. Banning it will only exacerbate existing inequalities.

This paper provides a good description of the paradoxes, the challenges and the opportunities regarding generative A.I. technologies. If it will bring upon a Ragnarok or a reformation of education, it is still to be seen.

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Annotated Bibliography - Generative AI and the future of education: Ragnarök or reformation? A paradoxical perspective from management educators. (Lim et al, 2023)