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Education and outreach

Education and outreach

The chatbot revolution: how physicists are using large language models in academia

16 Feb 2023 Hamish Johnston

In this episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast, we explore the use of large language models (chatbots) in physics. Our guest is the theoretical physicist Matt Hodgson, who uses chatbots both as a teaching tool and as an aid in writing computer code.

Based at the UK’s University of York, Hodgson points out that the physics community has been late to the game when it comes to chatbots. While he believes that the artificial-intelligence systems are having a mostly positive effect on academia, he says that we should be aware of potential downsides of chatbot use – particularly in the early stages of undergraduate education.

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