Coursera is looking to integrate ChatGPT from OpenAI, as a layer into courses offered by the company, according to the chief executive officer Jeff Maggioncalda. The move comes at a time when the feature has gained massive popularity on a global scale.
“It will definitely happen in 2023. We are excited about it. It will disrupt a lot of things and I am most excited about the fact it will change the learning experience, fundamentally,” said Maggioncalda in a special interview with Moneycontrol on the sidelines of The World Economic Forum 2023 annual meeting, held in the Swiss ski resort town Davos.
ChatGPT is a chatbot that the startup called OpenAI released in November 2022. The tech learns how to answer any prompt in a human-like way from vast amounts of data, and offers the information as a search engine.
Coursera's chief also added that the feature is keeping him awake at night as he has been spending the last 45 days on the software. “It can create new things, it's extraordinary at its earliest. It is not perfect, it is dangerous, and is going to really disrupt things. But I frankly think it's going to open up possibilities for us to help people learn in ways that folks have never imagined,” he said.
Maggioncalda also highlighted that students face the biggest risks of ChatGPT because of its ability to completely modify its style of writing. “Assessment is going to be very difficult, cheating is going to be rampant, and we are already seeing that,” he added.
Maggioncalda's comments come at a time when the New York City Department of Education has blocked access to ChatGPT on its networks and devices as the education board is concerned that the AI tool will harm students’ education.
Meanwhile, Coursera's chief, speaking to Moneycontrol also shared how the company is bullish towards India as a market. According to Maggioncalda, Coursera keeps India at the center of its strategy. “At the rate, we are growing, India will surpass all of Europe on Coursera, within probably 12 to 18 months. India, almost certainly, is the largest segment of learners on Coursera,” he said.
His bullishness on India attains significance as it comes at a time when competition in the higher edtech space is rising as employees focus on upskilling themselves as a result of technology companies around the world laying off millions of people across departments.
Back home, companies such as Ronnie Screwvala's upGrad, SoftBank-backed Eruditus, and Blackstone-backed Simplilearn, among others, have thus seen continued demand for their offerings.
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