The New York City schools thinks so. It has banned the new artificial intelligence writing tool from its school computers. So have the Seattle Public Schools, the Los Angeles Unified School District, Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia and Montgomery County Public Schools in Alabama. All fear ChatGPT will be used by students to do their assignments.
Before we continue, what is ChatGPT? It is a form of artificial intelligence (AI) launced in November by OpenAI, a San Francisco-based company. ChatGPT, a free service, can write essays on demand, solve problems, code, generate discussions and offer students tips on how to revise their writing. It can compose paragraphs in the style of a fourth grader or write sonnets in the style of Robert Frost so well that experts can’t tell that AI wrote them. And that is the problem.
If students use this AI tool to do their school work, will students learn? But perhaps that is not the best question to ask. ChatGPT is free, it’s out there, and more and better tools like it are in the works. Can schools really stop students from using such AI? Should they?
I think it is a hopeless pursuit. Here’s why.
- Though schools can ban or disable ChatGPT on school computers, they can’t ban it on students’ personal computers or cell phones or tablets. Outside of school, students can use ChatGPT to do school assignments. How is a teacher to know?
- Programs claiming to be able to detect AI-written work so far aren’t foolproof. And with more AI-programs in the pipeline, will such programs be able to keep up?
- English teachers—who already work some of the longest hours of any teachers—will not want to add to their burden by checking student assignments for AI-composed paragraphs, essays, arguments, and data.
Since AI is here to stay, instead of banning ChatGPT and tracking down cheaters, schools better might invest in how to use it to teachers’ advantage. Since the technology is so new, accommodating it (rather than banning it) this semester will be difficult for most school districts. However, if schools designate personnel to study ChatGPT, and develop practices teachers can use during the next school year, schools can use AI as another teaching tool, one tech-savvy students will embrace.
If you want to try ChatGPT,
- On your computer, go to chat.openai.com You will be asked for your email and phone number to which codes will be sent in order to proceed.
- On your Android smart phone, go to your web browser and key in chat.openai.com.
- ChatGPT is not available on Apple phones since OpenAI is a Microsoft-backed enterprise.
English Writing Teacher 