AP Teacher Shares Her Concerns of AI Generated Writing
Noah Shin
Staff Writer
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At the end of November 2022, a new AI text-generation model was released by OpenAI called ChatGPT, and with it, writing, and the teaching of writing, may never be the same again. It signaled a huge leap forward in power compared to its predecessor, GPT-3, and other similar generative AI language systems. It is able to author poems, answer questions, and write full length essays, on any topic, in any style, and instantly, with just a prompt from the user. And the output can be very good.
This of course has raised concerns among many English teachers across the country, some pronouncing it the end of the high school (or even college) essay, as they see the program as a tool that could be misused by students. They fear that it could jeopardize the teaching and learning of the ability to write fpr future generations of students. At CV, English teacher Ms. Doody shared her concerns about the development of generative AI software like ChatGPT.
Ms. Doody said she is concerned about students misusing the software. “I think everybody in our industry is concerned about that right now. I think high school teachers, particularly English teachers, and at the college level, we're all concerned about students not thinking and writing for themselves”.
She explains that there are already “teachers in this building who are busting kids for using AI” and urges students to value writing as more than just pen on paper but rather as “a really important part of expressing knowledge and emotions that makes us human, frankly.”
Ms. Doody does not see AI as a purely destructive tool, however, as she has seen its benefit in the classroom. She has heard of teachers outside of CV using it to generate questions and discussions for their students. Ms. Doody’s bottom line is that she can see the opportunities for AI but is nervous “about younger generations losing some of that ability that makes us human”.