In the early 1800s, during the Industrial Revolution a band of textile workers, “luddites,” wrecked new machinery. This term, “luddites,” evolved to being used to call someone who opposes new technology. The fear of new technology threatening jobs did not end with the 1800’s luddites. In the 1990’s “computerphobia” emerged with people fearing the replacement of humans with computers. Now, everyone walks around with a computer in their pocket. The invention of spark notes caused panic among English teachers thinking that their students would no longer read. Now, SparkNotes are used as a possible resource in English classrooms. Most recently, many have felt threatened by the new widespread use of ChatGPT, an AI text style tool where users can talk back and forth, receiving informative responses. Despite the general negativity towards the application, ChatGPT can be a helpful tool when used correctly. It is also best to not remain ignorant of new technology circulating our world.
Oftentimes, it can be difficult to receive feedback from teachers on an assignment because of the immense amount of students they have who are all trying to receive help at once. Some students are even scared to reach out for help. Most of the time the solution for this is to turn to their peers, many teachers even do “peer grading”, where students read other students’ work and critique it. While this may be simple, it isn’t very effective. This can cause a “blind leading the blind” situation due to the fact that the student might not be as knowledgeable as the teacher or know the specifics of what the teacher is looking for.
ChatGPT can be a helpful resource when properly “trained” through carefully worded prompts. When specifically directed to not write but rather give feedback on a piece of writing ChatGPT does just that. This tool can also use the rubric the student is graded on and grade them based on that. The advice this device distributes is much more honest and well-informed than peer feedback. Teachers are not always accessible for students to ask questions so having a more concise, accurate Google -like device to consult is helpful.
The ChatGPT criticism in schools is mostly centered around the ability to use it to cheat and plagiarize. While ChatGPT can write essays for you, it doesn’t mean they will fly under the radar. Some AI detectors can help draw attention to potentially AI-written stories. Using GoGuardian,a computer activity monitor, in classes can make cheating challenging to accomplish.
The ChatGPT panic outside of the school system is mainly about jobs being replaced by AI. Recently, Hollywood writers have been protesting over being replaced by or working with AI, suggesting that the use of AI for source material be banned. ChatGPT purely generates its instruction from already existing information on the internet so no new ideas can be formed from it. Polygon in an article called “AI can’t replace humans yet- but if the WGA writers don’t win it might not matter” states, “A film industry where chatbots are allowed in writers rooms — or allowed to replace them entirely — is an industry that has quite literally run out of ideas.”
A 2022 article in ‘The Atlantic’ called ChatGPT “The End of High School English.” This is a fear that many in creative job positions fear, that ChatGPT will take away all need for human thought and the ability to write. However, this tool generates all its information from already existing things on the internet meaning there are no genius new ideas being formed.
ChatGPT, when used as an informative search engine, is a helpful resource that students and non-students alike should not fear but instead use for their advantage. Although we should consciously and carefully monitor ChatGPT’s growing power in its current state, this AI tool is unable to replace humans in creative positions due to the fact that it lacks human voice. Original ideas, thoughts, speech, and writing can be aided but not taken over by AI.
