Schools are not prepared for the impact of ChatGPT on teaching and learning, according to new research.

ChatGPT is a large language model (LLM) created by OpenAI, which can answer questions in a seemingly natural way.

While it is trained on a huge data set and is able to establish passing grade answers at university level, BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT - which published the study - warned that the technology is "fallible".

A survey by the organisation with its Computing at School (CAS) network of teachers found that 62 per cent said chatbots like ChatGPT will make it harder to mark students’ work fairly.

A further 56 per cent of the 124 computing teachers surveyed said they did not think their school had a plan to manage incoming use of ChatGPT by pupils.

Julia Adamson, managing director for education and public benefit at BCS said that while computing teachers want their colleagues to embrace AI as a way to improve learning, they think schools will struggle to help students evaluate the answers they get from chatbots without the right technical tools and guidance.

“Calculators used to be banned from exams but are now mandatory,” she continued. “We need to bring machine learning into mainstream teaching practice, otherwise children will be using AI for homework unsupervised without understanding what it’s telling them.”

The research also found that more than three-quarters of computing teachers rated the general awareness of the capabilities of ChatGPT among colleagues at their school or college as ‘low’ or ‘very low’.

But 45 per cent of respondents were confident ChatGPT is a tool that will improve teaching in their school in the long-term.

OpenAI, the company behind the popular chatbot, recently announced it will trial a subscription service in the US.

OpenAI’s ChatGPT has made waves since launching in November 2022, with the company claiming that it is the world’s most-advanced chatbot.

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