CBSE Class 10, 12 Examinations 2023: Board Prohibits Use of ChatGPT, Mobiles During Board Exams

The use of Artificial Intelligence-based ChatGPT has been prohibited in the upcoming class 10, 12 board exams by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), officials said on Tuesday.
The class 10 and 12 board exams are set to begin on Wednesday, February 15.

"Mobile, ChatGPT and other electronic items will not be allowed in examination hall," according to instructions issued by the board ahead of the papers.

The use of ChatGPT will amount to using unfair means in the exam, the board officials said.

"Students are not allowed to carry any electronic devices inside the exam centre. This includes using device to access ChatGPT so that unfair means is not used," a senior board official said.

ChatGPT (Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer), which was launched in November 2022, is capable of generating speeches, songs, marketing copy, news articles and student essays or human-like text based on the input it is given.

The new artificial intelligence (AI) system, known as a large language model (LLM) is designed to generate human-like writing by predicting upcoming word sequences. 

Unlike most chatbots, ChatGPT cannot search the internet, the study said.

The admit card for the exams also has a cautionary instruction saying, "You should not indulge in any unfair practice. If found, you will be booked under Unfair Means (UFM) Activity and action will be taken as per the rules of the board." "Do not believe in fake videos and messages uploaded on social media. Do not spread rumours too. You could be booked under unfair means rules," it added. 

ChatGPT has been previously banned by many academic institutions, including France's Sciences Po. The AI chatbot has also been banned in some public schools in New York City and Seattle, according to US media reports, while several US universities have announced plans to do fewer take-home assessments and more hand-written essays and oral exams.