ChatGPT, a new artificial intelligence system, has seen a massive amount of coverage in the news media following its release, due to its enormous range of uses. There’s seemingly nothing it can’t do: from creating resumes, to writing songs to answering complex math problems. It can work as a search engine like Google, answering almost any question the user asks. It can also produce intricate, human-like text that is completely original.
The program has consequently faced much controversy. Concerns about using the software for plagiarism and misinformation have alarmed many in the world of education, including members of the faculty and staff at Northwest Academy. Some felt anxious that ChatGPT could be used for cheating, but many also expressed excitement that it might be utilized as an aid in the classroom.
ChatGPT, launched on November 30th, 2022, was developed by San Francisco tech company OpenAI. The firm was founded in 2015 by many already prominent people in the tech industry, including notable figures such as Elon Musk. OpenAI began as a non-profit organization, promising to share its patents with the general public and “freely collaborate” with different institutions to advance technology in the artificial intelligence field.
“Our goal is to advance digital intelligence in the way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole, unconstrained by a need to generate financial return,” wrote Greg Brockman and Ilya Sutskever, two of the company’s founders, in a blog from December of 2015. “Since our research is free from financial obligations, we can better focus on a positive human impact.”
2019 marked a major shift within OpenAI, however, when the company’s administration decided to convert it into a for-profit institution. The change received criticism from many who felt this decision broke from OpenAI’s goal of “democratizing AI.” Nevertheless, they later received $1 billion from Microsoft and went on to release the popular ChatGPT program.
One of ChatGPT’s biggest strengths is its ability to create original analytical writing in response to a prompt. This has caused concern among NWA teachers and staff, who worry that students will use the feature, which cannot be caught by a regular plagiarism checker, to complete their assignments. So far there is no school-wide policy that addresses ChatGPT.
“I have recommended, because I know it’s going to take us a while to figure out how we’re going to incorporate ChatGPT in the classroom, that we block it initially, until we have a policy developed,” said John Storhm, the Systems and Technology Director at NWA. “They didn’t want to go that route, so right now it’s open use and they’re working on developing a policy by talking to teachers.”
In the interim, the English/Humanities department has come up with a policy intended to prevent some of ChatGPT’s more nefarious uses.
“The E/H Department met in part to discuss ChatGPT a month or two ago,” said Bobby Elliott, an English teacher. “I think when it was all said and done the faculty were on the same page which is that at this moment we do not believe that ChatGPT is something that students should be using for their writing assignments.”
The majority of teachers in the English/Humanities Department felt that while ChatGPT is not plagiarism in the traditional sense, since it generates writing that is not the student’s own and requires little if any student thinking, it still shouldn’t be allowed.
The official statement from the department after its meeting was as follows: “AI Writing generation software (including, but not limited to, ChatGPT) is prohibited in all E/H assignments at all stages of the writing process. As a Department, we believe writing is a crucial skill to develop and that AI writing generation software significantly impedes writing growth and development.”
In addition, a new Emerging Technology Committee has been formed, partially in response to the advent of ChatGPT. The panel is headed by Lily King, a Systems Support Specialist at NWA.
“[The Emerging Technology Committee] is a new committee of mostly teaching staff and myself who are interested in providing more guidance of how technology is used in the school,” said King. “For a long time, Northwest Academy was a little tech-phobic. The world has become a lot more technology focused in even the last decade alone, so we are trying to have more intention and provide guidance with not just ChatGPT, but also the internet and social media and whatever new technology comes out, and how those can be brought into our teaching, instead of misunderstood and kept at arm’s length.”
Some teachers felt that regardless of the policies Northwest Academy puts into place, students will covertly use ChatGPT to complete assignments.
“I think people will use it to cheat,” said Ryan Campbell, a math and physics teacher. “I think it’s inevitable and I think it will be really hard for teachers to tell. Already it’s as good as a lot of the work we get and it’s only getting better.”
Many felt, however, that AI generated-writing would be easy to spot. Using ChatGPT to solve a math homework problem is one thing, but using it to write an entire essay opens up many more opportunities for teachers to catch on.
“I have found that the writing feels pretty formulaic, and it tends to fall back on a couple patterns,” said King. “I think that one thing about ChatGPT and other AI writing systems is the human experience. While it can write competent text, it does not have the same weight as if it was written by a real person with real lived experiences.”
Several teachers criticized the program’s writing style and didn’t think it would meet their grading standards if submitted.
“I feel like the writing it produces is clever, like look at that!” said Katie Staggers, chair of the EH department. “But I don’t think it produces good writing. I think that the writing lacks thoughtfulness, it lacks voice, and it lacks basic organization. I have heard of the factual information being wrong. I have not encountered that but I just feel like it is boring and soulless.”
Beyond concerns that the program will be used to create bogus assignments, both faculty and those in the IT Department expressed worry about the false information sometimes given out by ChatGPT. Some felt it was important for students to remember that ChatGPT is still a work in progress.
“Other than plagiarism, my personal concerns are that it is not always correct, and I would worry more about students getting information from ChatGPT and assuming that it’s true, while oftentimes it’s pulling false information,” said King. “Misinformation is a real concern.”
According to NWA faculty, ChatGPT likely won’t be an issue in their particular classrooms. One common reason given was the types of assignments they hand out.
“One thing we know ChatGPT is especially capable of is churning out a fairly traditional analytical essay,” said Elliott. “Is there room for instructors to give writing assignments that go beyond just a traditional analytical writing assignment? I think as a faculty we already do that pretty well.”
While it appears that ChatGPT might do the same thing to analytical essays that Google did to memorization, most teachers felt fairly comfortable with their curriculums and did not see an immediate need to change them to mitigate a perceived threat.
“I have not been teaching a curriculum that uses that type of writing,” said Jada Pierce, an English teacher. “In Senior E/H 4, the type of writing is personal narrative, so they have to write using the first person eye, drawing upon lived experiences and bringing in direct quotes as well from the sometimes obscure and contemporary texts we are reading in class. At the end of the day, by the time the student would have to check all the boxes that my prompt is asking them to check, it would almost be more work.”
Furthermore, several teachers cited the close relationships they have with their students as a reason why they weren’t as worried about the AI program.
“I’m not personally concerned that students are going to use it for plagiarism because I’m involved in their work in such minute and consistent ways that I think it would be obvious to me,” said Julie Ellington, Head of the World Languages Department.
NWA is a unique school, characterized by its small size and arts focus, factors many believed to be working in the school’s favor on this issue. Faculty and staff said that NWA’s mission to incorporate creativity and personal reflection into curriculums means that fewer assignments can be substituted with AI. Additionally, the school culture as a whole is considered by many to be one of collaboration and self-motivation, meaning students may have less reason to use ChatGPT illicitly.
“I recognize that [ChatGPT] could be used for plagiarism, but I don’t think I have concerns that way,” said Chris Schuck, Head of High School. “Part of it is respect in regard to our student body, that I don’t think students here are as prone as adolescents might be elsewhere to get caught up in the competition for grades and this mindless scramble for college admissions.”
While many students agreed that ChatGPT is indeed plagiarism, some also felt that in certain situations it should be allowed.
“I think that it can be considered plagiarism, depending on how you use it,” said Phineas Silverman, a sophomore who is taking an online AI class. “If you are using it to write full essays and slapping your name on it, that is 100% plagiarism. But if you are using it for ideas, if you want it to relate two topics to each other, or if you want to have it list some ideas to use, I think that is fine, it should be allowed.”
It is also unfair, many believe, to categorize ChatGPT as only a threat. Campbell talked about the positive aspects of the program, mentioning that the previous night he had typed the contents of his fridge into ChatGPT and told it to spit out a recipe. He used it to make Korean tacos and said they were pretty good.
“I use ChatGPT sometimes and it’s a great tool,” said Campbell. “I find myself more creative when I’m using it.”
He expressed excitement about how it could be used with supervision in the classroom as a positive aid, and cited an example of this already happening.
“We used it in advanced physics,” said Campbell. “We were trying to do a Mathematica program for a standing wave and animate it.It was kind of a hard problem so we spent 30 minutes going through it and then [a student] was like let’s just have ChatGPT do it.”
Campbell was not the only teacher open to the idea of allowing ChatGPT to be used as a tool.
“I think there are absolutely good uses or productive uses of [ChatGPT] in a classroom setting and that’s why the policy may forbid its use now it will inevitably evolve into a policy about appropriate and inappropriate uses,” said Kyle Wiggins, an English teacher.
Some students said they had also found success using the program outside of school to assist them.
“I used ChatGPT to plan a marketing strategy for my Etsy project over the summer,” said Frances Alldrin, a junior. “I would say it was fairly helpful. I already had a project in mind and it helped me generate some ideas that made me excited for the project. It’s not that it did all the work for me, but it gave me a start.”
While most believed that ChatGPT is unlikely to completely upend the way classes are taught, there was widespread recognition of the influence the tool could have on curricula. Moreover, if it improves its writing capabilities, which it almost certainly will, schools like NWA may have to change the ways they educate their students.
“As time goes on, it will get more capable as it gets trained on more material, for better or for worse,” said King.
In addition to traditional analytical essays, teachers will likely be shifting away from homework as a form of assessment, having to presume that they could easily be falsified.
“In my class it’s usually not such a big thing,” said Campbell. “They’re doing it in class and I can see it. It’s more difficult to do take home tests and essays.”
Some felt, however, that this is merely a continuation of the trend that started with the advent of Google away from these types of assignments.
“It is amplifying problems that already existed, not creating new ones,” said King.
Even so, in the long term, ChatGPT does pose philosophical questions about what we value about education in a world with hyper-advanced AI.
“Cheating isn’t really my main concern,” said Campbell. “My main concern is how do we create learning opportunities for students that are gonna prepare them to live in the world twenty years from now? I think if I change anything it will be an explicit incorporation in teaching how to best use ChatGPT to answer physics and math questions and know when the answer it’s giving you is not right.”
Some students felt that greater vigilance would be required now that AI generated text has become more prevalent online.
“I think learning what sources are valid and what sources are AI will be increasingly important; huge swaths of text on the internet are already written by AI,” said Zadie Niedergang, a senior. “I don’t know if quality writing will become more important, but I think writing that people can trust to be human will become more important, particularly in journalism and essay writing.
Many are concerned about what will happen when ChatGPT’s writing skills improve further, and whether it will devalue human works. Some students, however, felt that the opposite is more likely.
“I think it will make art and writing made by people more valuable,” said Nico Sardi, a sophomore.” Like a lot of things have value because they are handmade. If you just see a lot of writing and art that is generated by AI, writing and art made by humans will become much more valuable.”
But what if AI generated writing becomes almost indistinguishable from that created by humans? Would writing even be valued as a skill anymore? English teachers largely felt that it still would.
“When it comes down to it, the written word is fundamental to not only our existence but our sense of purpose in the world,” said Elliott. “It has been the guiding, animating, enlivening force in my life, and I refuse to believe that that force will ever be dulled by an AI assisted writing program. There’s nothing that can replicate or reproduce what it means to sit down with work written by a human or produce it yourself.”
Reporting by Grant Reiner, Jasper Selwood, Elliot Strom
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