AI: An End to English Classes?

Recently the rise of OpenAI’s ChatGPT has taken the world by storm: this specific Atlantic article dominated my newsfeed and became the Atlantics #1 article of the week. The rise of AI is seemingly impossible to ignore. A few months ago, controversy brewed when a man won a state art contest with an AI-generated artwork.  

In fact, even last week, a group of students in my fifth-hour class huddled around an iPad, experimenting with the limitations of ChatGPT. 

There are so many sides to the argument of whether the use of AI is ethical; in this post, I’m going to focus on the rise of writing AI's and their impact on English classes. 

Every middle school student dreaded those week-long take-home essays that made them analyze Oliver Twist and Holes. The rise of AI-generated texts allows students to take the easy way out—deteriorating students’ English skills. We can all attest that these essays weren’t enjoyable to write, but they offer the chance for students to analyze classic literature and use sophisticated language. When students that grew up writing with AI arrive at high school, they won’t be able to handle the intense in-class essays and discussions. At that point, these students won’t have the time to relearn the foundations. 

Then what is the alternative? Once AI becomes advanced to the point where teachers cannot differentiate the work of a machine and a child, will in-class essays and on-site testing become a norm? Most likely not, teachers at the middle and elementary school level simply don’t have the time or resources. Moreover, it’s unlikely that elementary school students can sit down and write for such prolonged time periods. For the time being, teachers will have to continue teaching in the same way, hoping that students write without aid. 

Nonetheless, AI writing can be incredibly beneficial to writers. Not only can AI generate ideas, but it can help edit and proofread a student's essay. Yet this brings up another ethical question: how much help can a student receive from an AI before it’s deemed as plagiarism? And how is enlisting the help of AI different from peer revisions? 

The thought of AI advancing the world and changing our lives has always seemed like a far-fetched idea in a sci-fi world. However, we are currently living in a world where such technology has become a reality. Whether you support AI or not, these ethical questions must be considered now.