Rise of ChatGPT in the Classroom AMY SHIPLEY’S OPINION ON INCORPORATING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

Launched in Nov. 2022, ChatGPT was quick to gain attention from the public. ChatGPT is the fastest-growing consumer application and is the fastest to reach a million users. Additionally, the software only took two months to reach one hundred million users. Introduced by the San Francisco-based company OpenAI, ChatGPT is a chatbot that produces convincing language from simple user prompts.

The AI powered chatbot is a large language model, meaning it can be fed massive amounts of text and data and predict a likely sequence of words in response to a prompt. The impressive tool is transforming multiple industries, including education. In schools, there is a significant debate over whether ChatGPT is a beneficial teaching aid or just another way for students to plagiarize.

“I think it can be used for good in terms of helping students brainstorm a general idea. I’m afraid students will see it as a way to create all of the ideas and not to use it as a tool,” English

Department Chair Amy Shipley said. “Like whenever calculators became a thing for math classes, that was a tool to help students, but we still have to teach math, we just have an extra tool to help us.”

In education, ChatGPT can be a great tool, if used ethically. For example, students can implement ethicality by avoiding plagiarism of the software, and using it for things such as brainstorming, improving grammar and enhancing sentence structure.

“I think its capabilities are a lot bigger than what we actually recognize in terms of helping with grammar [and] asking it to do research pretty quickly,” Shipley said. “It’s just a matter of learning how to use it responsibly, so I think that is going to become part of an English teacher’s job as well.”

In the end, while ChatGPT can be an aid in the classroom, it is important for students to continue to work hard and form their own ideas.

Recently, Microsoft developed a new version of Bing integrated with

ChatGPT. Students can ask the AI chatbot questions and get detailed responses. The chatbot can serve as a research assistant, which can be useful to students doing research in class.

“If all we do is let ChatGPT do our thinking and writing for us, it’s not going to create the critical thinkers that we need to be better,” Shipley said. “Students need to think, [about] what kind of individuals [would graduate] from high school if [students] never had to think on their own.”

ChatGPT is a powerful tool that can be an excellent aid if used in a responsible manner. For example, the questions asked during Shipley’s interview were generated by ChatGPT. Developing interview questions is a responsible and ethical use of ChatGPT. The chatbot is allowing for industries such as journalism to evolve.

“It’s a great useful tool, it’s always going to be out there,” Shipley said. “So how can we use it to make ourselves better instead of dumber?” Story and photo by Nicole Mathenge.