Computer Science Class Now Includes Critiquing Chatbots

The New York Times

Natasha Singer

February 6, 2023

At the Young Women's Leadership School of the Bronx, teacher Marisa Shuman recently challenged her computer science class to examine material produced by OpenAI's ChatGPT chatbot. She used the algorithm-generated lesson plan to analyze ChatGPT's potential utility and shortcomings with students. Several courses at the school ask students to consider how popular computer algorithms — often developed by mainly white and Asian men — may disproportionately affect groups like immigrants and low-income communities. Shuman and other U.S. educators say they are encouraging pupils to question the hype surrounding the technology and to weigh its potential consequences, in order to teach next-generation technology inventors and consumers "critical computing."