Sci-Tech

There is a lot of buzz around ChatGPT, a language model software capable of responding to queries with human-like intelligence. However, AI poses the threat of the diminishing use of human cognitive skills. The absence of ample thinking before writing and the sheer utilization of AI tools for generating reports and documents may make one devoid of skill and imagination to create new things. Spoon-feeding by artificially intelligent systems is enfeebling metacognition and promotes a lackadaisical attitude in students in the education process. Analyzing, report writing, etc. is likely to get reshaped with the evolving AI chatbots based on disruptive technology that redefines the ontology and epistemology of teaching, learning, examination, and research. There is a thin line between someone requiring support and someone becoming parasitic to the support. The likelihood of loss of ingenuity, and diminishing cognitive skills need to be investigated thoroughly at every activity level.

Statistics show that cyberattacks occur every 39 seconds. The total damage caused by cyber-attacks amounted to $6 trillion in 2022. Growing adaptation to smartphones is heightening security vulnerabilities. Ransomware as a service (RaaS) is evolving as a business model. The formal education system must trigger well-crafted education programmes for rolling out a cyber defence army that understands the creativity behind cyber attacks and can protect society at large. Galloping advances in the cyber world push not just for cyber hygiene to become part of formal education at the school level, but also for the ineluctable rigorous campaigns to update every individual to remain cyber safe.