Hong Kong Baptist University begins ChatGPT trial for teaching staff, but professors wary over lack of guidelines for AI use

Access to be granted without need for VPN under agreement with Microsoft, which backs company behind powerful tool

Lack of official parameters worries some educators, while others voice excitement

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Earlier this year, Baptist University sent a letter to its students warning them over plagiarism when using ChatGPT and other AI technologies. Photo: Reuters

Published: 8:30pm, 19 May 2023Updated: 7:37pm, 21 May 2023

Corrected [7:34pm, 21 May, 2023]

[7:34pm, 21 May, 2023]
This story has been amended to show that Metropolitan University is a self-financing institution.

Hong Kong Baptist University has rolled out a trial for the use of ChatGPT by teaching staff, but professors have said clear guidelines are needed for using intelligence (AI) tools in an academic setting.

The university announced internally on Wednesday it would provide official accounts for staff to access the tool without using a VPN as part of an agreement with Microsoft, which backs the company behind the software.

The test period will run until mid-November, but no guidelines have been given on how to use the tool.

While some professors expressed excitement about exploring how the teaching burden could be eased by using ChatGPT, others voiced criticism over the technology’s effectiveness and worries regarding the absence of official parameters.

Dr Amelia Lee Nam-yuk, head of the university’s early childhood and elementary education division, said the institution was encouraging teachers to learn about ChatGPT and her colleagues were still “getting their heads around” the conversational bot.