The debate coincides with the rising popularity of AI text generators such as ChatGPT, which can generate lengthy, natural-language answers to specific questions within seconds.

Some educators are concerned that the technology could make plagiarism rampant and would allow students to sidestep the learning process entirely by submitting an AI program’s work as their own.

But Jakarta-based lecturer Andari Karina Anom, who teaches communications, claims educators should welcome the technological developments with open arms.

“I haven’t personally found a student who [has written an essay] solely using ChatGPT, but I am sure that is an inevitability,” she told The Jakarta Post on Thursday. “Educators should not be afraid, since no matter how smart technology becomes, it’s our responsibility to adjust.”

Drawing comparisons with how search engines in the early 2010s replaced the physical act of going to libraries, Andari said it would be counterproductive to impose strict rules on how students accessed information online.

“There were some lecturers who were more hesitant [to embrace AI]. But, after some discussions, we concluded that our focus should be on accommodating these changes,” she said.

Twenty-one-year-old engineering student Rudy from South Jakarta, who asked to use an alias for this story, has embraced ChatGPT in recent months.

“[It] has been incredibly helpful for my assignments. To brainstorm a research topic, it might take me a week, while an AI can generate [topics] in minutes,” he said on Thursday.

As the software’s popularity continues to rise among his peers, Rudy said ChatGPT had split the opinions of his lecturers, with some encouraging its use in assignments and others banning it outright.

“I don’t consider it cheating, since I personally use AI just as a starting point. I would never just copy-and-paste [AI-generated text] and submit it as my assignment,” he said.

Read also: ChatGPT a stern reminder of the need for tougher AI governance

Challenging changes

Reports of students using AI to cheat have prompted some governments, including a few local governments in the United States and Australia, to ban AI from their school environments.

In Indonesia, however, the development of AI in the education sector is a priority, according to the 2020-2045 national AI strategy developed by the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT), although the document does not directly address how AI should be regulated in schools and universities.

“Even if Indonesia bans ChatGPT, there might be even more advanced AI technology by the time the government can come up with the regulation,” education expert Tian Belawati said on Thursday. “It will be more effective for us to focus on how we can use AI in a constructive manner.”

Echoing Tian, education expert Indra Charismiadji said on Thursday that authorities should focus their resources on keeping Indonesian teachers up to date with technology so that the education system would not slip further behind internationally.

While AI might be increasingly popular in the country’s major cities, Indra said, teachers in the country's remote and less developed regions were lagging far behind.

“[These teachers] are still struggling to make the most out of search engines and social media platforms.”

“It would be detrimental to ban AI when there is a big possibility that students might need it in their workplaces in the future,” he added.

The Education, Culture, Research and Technology Ministry’s higher education directorate general was not available for comment when contacted by The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

Read also: As artificial intelligence rises, lawmakers try to catch up

Streamlining learning

Indra said AI could help with efforts to reform the country’s educational system.

“[Schools that teach] in a way where there is only one right answer and one right way to get to that answer are no longer relevant. Teachers should instead focus on helping students learn how to be more innovative,” he added.

Tian, who is a member of the control committee at the International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE), also said AI could help university students streamline their research.

“While search engines have allowed students to save time sorting through a lot of literature, AI does this magnitudes better. [With AI], students can have more time to focus on synthesizing [new insights] rather than having them bogged down with low-level cognitive tasks,” she said.