I typed in: “How will ChatGPT change the way teachers are teaching writing in the classroom?” and clicked the “submit” button. Within seconds, words scrolled across the screen from ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence chat tool:

“ChatbotGPT is a variant of the GPT (Generative Pre-training Transformer) language model developed by OpenAI. It is designed to generate human-like text based on a prompt provided to it. It is not intended to be used as a teaching tool, but rather as a tool for generating text for a variety of purposes, including content generation and language translation.

“However, it is possible that ChatbotGPT or other language generation models could be used as a teaching tool in the future. For example, a teacher could use ChatbotGPT to generate sample texts for students to analyze and evaluate, or to generate prompts for writing assignments.

“In general, the use of chatbots and other artificial intelligence (AI) tools in education is an area of active research and development, and it is likely that we will see more and more AI-powered tools being used in educational settings in the future. However, it is important to note that these tools are only as effective as the way they are used, and it will be up to teachers and educators to determine how best to incorporate them into their teaching practices.”

If you have even tinkered for a few minutes with the latest chatbot release from OpenAI, a company working to create AI tools through the use of supercomputing and massive databases of information, then you know that it’s an eye-opening experience.

And you better believe that many of our students probably know about it, too.

Before I came across news of ChatGPT in my teaching and technology circles, I had a student say to me, “Did you know I can get the computer to write an essay for me?”

For whatever reason, the comment didn’t register at the moment. I sort of acknowledged the possibility, but little more. A week later, I realized what they were telling me. They had been tinkering with ChatGPT. And they were right. It can write an essay for them. In seconds. (Note: at the time I was writing this, the platform was still free for anyone to access but that will likely change, if it hasn’t already).

My first impulse was an “uh oh.” So I dove in and spent time with this technology, and surfaced with a few observations.

First, I hate to negatively default to considering how students might pass off ChatGPT text for writing essays, stories, poems and plays as their own for school assignments but, well, that will surely happen. ChatGPT has the ability to quickly write responses to any prompt given to it, and mostly, what it writes is pretty thoughtful. Scarily so.

I asked ChatGPT for its take on whether students might use it to cheat on assignments. There was a pause in its response, as if it were mulling over the ethics of my query, although I know I am probably just anthropomorphizing the AI here.

“It is possible that students may use ChatbotGPT or other language generation models to write school assignments in the future. These models are designed to generate human-like text based on a prompt provided to them, which could potentially make the writing process easier for students. However, it is important to note that ChatbotGPT and other language generation models should not be used as a replacement for a student’s own writing and thinking.

“Instead, these models can be used as a tool to help students generate ideas and get started on their writing, or to provide inspiration for their own writing. It is ultimately up to the teacher or instructor to determine how these tools should be used in the classroom, and to ensure that students are using them in a way that is appropriate and beneficial to their learning.”

So how can we envision a positive and potentially productive use of AI systems like ChatGPT in our classrooms?

This development in AI will surely mean that educators will not be able to fall back on generic writing prompts for students. These will be too easy for chatbots to answer. Instead, the shift will require more thoughtful lesson designs that integrate more creativity and multimedia elements into traditional text-based writing assignments, opening up a myriad of ways for student writers to express themselves. A single piece of writing may no longer be enough for students to demonstrate understanding and creativity.

In addition, instead of fearing the technology, we can embrace it, and consider how to use ChatGPT with students to demonstrate how “predictive text” (which is the underpinning of ChatGPT, via machine learning) has potential and limitations. For example, in many cases, ChatGPT has been shown to be completely wrong about the information it has provided in responses, although the technology comes across as being authoritative in its writing voice. The AI doesn’t know everything, and yet it’s pretty good at faking what it doesn’t know.

Teachers could use the technology to help rethink writing activities, as ChatGPT suggested in its response to me. It is surprisingly adept at generating writing prompts on a theme. It does a pretty decent job of suggesting revisions to inputted essays and stories. It can be helpful with suggesting names and situations of characters, and settings. It can explain forms of poetry, and then provide examples. It can take a text and rework it into any style you can think of, allowing students to understand genre shifts.

This AI may even someday replace search engines, like Google, as a source for students doing research projects. Not only does it have a growing database, ChatGPT individualizes the responses to specific queries, and provides context for discovered information. Follow-up queries and clarifications are a question and a click away.

The release of ChatGPT is potentially an earthquake in education, and one we in the field of education cannot ignore, even though there are many ethical questions still unresolved. Maybe we educators expressed the same concerns when Wikipedia started up and when YouTube was suddenly everywhere and when Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and TikTok all took the world by storm. Yet, this feels like a different moment, at least to me.

Alternatives to ChatGPT are already emerging, too. There are platforms with names like LaMDA, BlenderBot, DialoGPT, Godel, Sparrow, Galactica and more. This AI technology is really in its infancy, which makes it all the more important that we pay attention.

I’ll leave it to ChatGPT to end with the final word here:

“It is also worth noting that the use of ChatbotGPT or other AI tools in education is still an emerging area of research and development, and there is still much that we do not know about how these tools will be used in the future. Therefore, it is important for students and educators to approach the use of these tools with caution, and to be mindful of the potential limitations and ethical considerations involved.”

Kevin Hodgson, of Leeds, is a sixth grade teacher at the William E. Norris Elementary School in Southampton and a teacher-consultant with the Western Massachusetts Writing Project.

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