By Dylan Callaghan

In the ever-changing world of education, a now well-known technology continues to make its mark on the educational landscape. I am, of course, talking about OpenAI’s ChatGPT and similar AI models. 

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons user @marketcomlabo.

First released in 2022, the chatbot was created to generally assist users with writing and answering questions. However, as Clare Aman (’26) similarly noted in a Match article in December 2024, what had seemed like a groundbreaking innovation soon began raising questions among educators. Since ChatGPT’s writing was designed to appear human-like, educators began noticing an upward trend of ChatGPT use among students on assignments and essays. ChatGPT is now on its fourth version and, as it continues to become more refined and advanced, it has left educators with an uneasy feeling about how it will affect learning and development in the younger generations.

These growing concerns in the educational field have led to swift measures being taken against AI usage in schools. ChatGPT has already been fully banned in several places, including school districts in New York City, Baltimore, and Los Angeles. Since ChatGPT is not just a US problem, bans in the school districts of other nations, such as Australia, have been proposed since ChatGPT’s creation. Many AI detection websites have popped up to try and combat cheating with ChatGPT, including one made by OpenAI, but it seems that the software used in these websites hasn’t caught up to the advanced level that ChatGPT is currently at. 

While banning it outright is certainly one way to prevent students from using ChatGPT on assignments, other educators have begun to take a different approach. Upper School English teacher Dr. Bart Thornton has “begun using more handwritten journal assignments and handwritten in-class essays.” Thornton is not the only teacher to make the switch to handwritten assignments. Stanford computer science professor Keith Schwarz says he has switched back to “pencil-and-paper exams” to prevent any temptation to cheat with any technology or AI such as ChatGPT.

While the switch to handwritten assignments may make essays seem more tedious and daunting for students, this switch has additional benefits, aside from preventing cheating with AI. When asked about the benefits handwritten assignments come with, Thornton explained that “students who write by hand are reasoning more carefully and thinking through things better.” 

AI tools are being used in other ways in classrooms as well. Teachers are learning how to utilize its abilities for planning and organization. On an OpenAI forum, a website where OpenAI users can share their experiences with ChatGPT, user @qchsbandkids, who identifies himself as a high school special education teacher, explained how he has incorporated ChatGPT into his special education classroom. Teaching both Algebra I and II, this user commented that he uses the AI software to track students’ progress throughout the year and to create graphic organizers to keep track of students’ behavior. In this particular example, ChatGPT was even able to simplify data for parents. According to this user, the data the AI had organized on students’ behavior and progress was too complex for him to send out to parents. This teacher said, “With that feedback, I’m just telling ChatGPT to write it in parent-friendly wording on the level of a 4th grader.” 

While it has positive educational potential, ChatGPT use is rising across the country as a method for cheating on assignments and assessments. In a survey conducted by the online magazine Intelligent in January 2023, with 1,000 undergraduates from different universities across the United States, over 30% of students admitted to using ChatGPT to cheat on an assignment. 

Additionally, concerns over the AI’s bias have become a hot topic when discussing ChatGPT. Users and educators have begun questioning who programs what ChatGPT is and isn’t allowed to say, or who essentially is in charge of ChatGPT’s built-in bias. ChatGPT has also been reported as spreading misinformation or altered facts from time to time. The chatbot has a process known as “hallucination,” where, according to David Wright, the Director of Academic Technology at the University of Dayton, “it just sort of randomly generates information when it realizes it’s running out things it does know.” 

As the use of ChatGPT continues to become more prevalent among students, the question has now been flipped back to educators: Is it time to break away from the traditional essay writing style? In an interview with NEA Today, Cherie Shields, a high school English teacher in Oregon, said teachers “need to kind of move away from the standard five-paragraph essay response and need to do something a lot more imaginative to get our students to respond.” 

While there are certainly issues with ChatGPT in the classroom beyond teaching methods, making more exciting and engaging creative writing assignments could certainly help combat cheating with AI in the English classroom. Creating assignments students can get excited about also encourages students to write more frequently, further developing their writing skills.

While there are certainly arguments for both sides on ChatGPT’s involvement in education, the chatbot’s future in the classroom remains uncertain.

Featured image courtesy of Jernej Furman.