Washington Post no paywall via MSN – “Google quietly added a “homework help” button to the world’s most-used web browser. Educators say it makes cheating too easy. The temptation to cheat was suddenly just two clicks away Sept. 2, when Google quietly added a “homework help” button to Chrome, the world’s most popular web browser. The button has been appearing automatically on the kinds of course websites used by the majority of American college students and many high-schoolers, too. Pressing it launches Google Lens, a service that reads what’s on the page and can provide an “AI Overview” answer to questions — including during tests. Educators I’ve spoken with are alarmed. Schools including Emory University, the University of Alabama, the University of California at Los Angeles and the University of California at Berkeley have alerted faculty how the button appears in the URL box of course sites and their limited ability to control it. Chrome’s cheating tool exemplifies Big Tech’s continuing gold rush approach to AI: launch first, consider consequences later and let society clean up the mess…”

Posted in: AI, Education, Internet, Search Engines