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Feb.20 (NBD) -- The University of Hong Kong (HKU) has temporarily banned students from using ChatGPT or any other artificial intelligence (AI)-based tool for coursework, assessments or class, with any suspected violations to be treated as plagiarism.

Professor Ian Holliday, HKU’s vice-president for teaching and learning, issued a campuswide email on Friday announcing the decision. Students seeking exemptions would need to obtain written permission from course instructors, he said.

HKU became the first in the city to prohibit the use of AI-based tools on campus, while The Chinese University of Hong Kong said it had set up a new committee to discuss a policy next week.

It's noticed that prestigious Chinese academic journal The Jinan Journal (Philosophy & Social Science Edition) has also banned listing ChatGPT as a co-author on papers, joining several publishers in China and the world that have restricted the use of the artificial intelligence chatbot to prevent inaccuracies and plagiarism in academic research.

However, people's attitude to ChatGPT's influence in the education and press sector varies.

Snowfox Books, a South Korean publisher, plans to release a book solely authored by ChatGPT – Korea’s first – and translated into Korean, proofread and illustrated by AI machines – the world’s first to do so for the entire publication process.

“Since the implications are certain to be significant, however, it will take a while for us to settle on a long-term policy,” he said.

With ChatGPT sweeping the internet and shaking up global education, the university planned to launch a broad-based campus debate on the implications of AI-based tools for teaching and learning at the institution, he explained.