Re-examining AI, automation and datafication in education

Just as 2022 was drawing to a close, the artificial intelligence research company OpenAI launched a preview version of ChatGPT, a natural language interface designed for conversational text interactions with users.ChatGPT is the latest instantiation of OpenAI's suite of GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) technologies, otherwise known as Large Language Models (LLMs), or a form of artificial intelligence that can generate 'human-like' text based on its processing a huge quantities of text from the internet.Its release prompted an outpouring of commentary on social media and in the press about how AI could thoroughly disrupt education -especially by rendering the student essay obsolete and opening up new ways for learners to access knowledge (Hern 2022).Only weeks previously, Meta (the parent company of Facebook) had launched Galactica, a language model for science and scholarship trained on millions of scientific articles, websites, textbooks, lecture notes, and encyclopaedias, which it described as a shortcut for researchers and students to 'summarize academic papers, solve math problems, generate articles, write scientific code, … and more' (Heaven 2022).And the previous year, Google proposed its own LLM could be used as a kind of smart chatbot interface to enhance students' access to information, as part of its aims to roll out further AI features and automation in its globally popular suite of cloud-based education platforms (Williamson 2021).The promise of these forms of AI for education, according to their developers and supporters, is to transform processes, practices and institutions of teaching and learning, but critics see things differently.Meta had to close Galactica after just three days once users revealed it could generate plausible-seeming articles and essays that actually contained false, misleading or dangerous information.Educators reacted with dismay when early users of ChatGPT showed it could produce course assignments that would be difficult if not impossible to detect as machinewritten, leading to deep concern about its use for cheating.Existing plagiarism detection software wouldn't even be able to flag it.Some academics reacted by posting on social media examples of the warnings they would be issuing to students against using LLMs as a form of