In recent times, artificial intelligence and machine learning have reached an unprecedented rate of development. Released by OpenAI in November, ChatGPT is a language modeling system that uses existing information from the internet to produce results from user-based prompts. Over its current cycle, ChatGPT has received billions of dollars in investment as the leading chatbot model. In spite of this, many teachers believe that this revolutionary computer program holds no place in the classroom because of its connections to academic dishonesty.

“As of right now, I would say there is no setting where it would be appropriate to use ChatGPT,” said Jennifer Andriano, Chamblee’s world literature and Yearbook teacher. “Somebody would have to give me a very good argument as to why it would be used.”

Andriano first heard about ChatGPT through her colleagues and children, both of who had firsthand experience with the software.

“One of my co-workers let us know that [ChatGPT] was out there and that students were using it,” said Andriano. “Then, my daughter in college heard about it as well and asked me if I could use turnitin.com on a paper that she had experimented with, and nothing turned up.”

Although Andriano does not have much experience with ChatGPT, she heavily condemns using the software.

“[ChatGPT] can’t be detected with turnitin.com or other essay-checking sites,” said Andriano. “My feeling about it is that it’s the lazy way to go.”

Andriano believes that this form of plagiarism can be easily caught by teachers who know their students’ writing styles and abilities.

“Even though it’s created and may not be plagiarism detected, a teacher knows how their students write and will be able to catch it themselves,” said Andriano.

To combat cheating and the use of ChatGPT in her class, Andriano checks each of her students for incremental progress in writing for their assignments.

“One of the things I try to do in class has students share their Google Docs with me, and that way, I can make sure that the assignment didn’t just pop up out of nowhere,” said Andriano. “Frequent progress checks are the best way right now to combat [ChatGPT].”

On the other hand, educators like Ginger Eberhard, a German teacher at Chamblee, believe that ChatGPT can serve a useful purpose in the right environment.

“I think [ChatGPT] could be used for good if we figure out how to do that,” said Eberhard. “But right now, it’s not being used for good, and we need to combat that.”

Eberhard is open to using ChatGPT in the classroom to improve her teaching, but she does not currently see a way in which this idea is feasible.

“As of right now, I’m not sure about what setting would be appropriate to use ChatGPT because I don’t know how to handle it in a positive way,” said Eberhard. “If I find that it could enhance my class in some way, I would definitely change my mind.”

Students like Brady Price-Wittenauer (‘25) also support the belief that ChatGPT has great amounts of potential, but schools need to find the right use for it.

“I believe it is a useful resource and the next step in the development of AI programming,” said Wittenauer. “However, people have been using it for the wrong purposes such as cheating or plagiarizing work, and it creates a non-learning environment where people are merely just looking to get a good grade.”

When he’s not in the classroom, Wittenauer uses ChatGPT in recreation to make and read stories written by the AI. He also sees its use in many practical applications

“I’ve used ChatGPT outside of school mostly when creating funny stories to please myself,” said Wittenauer. “Some could use it for formatting reports, or finding out how to do certain things because it can give detailed descriptions.”

Nevertheless, there are many who firmly oppose any use of ChatGPT in schools for any reason.

“In school, you should be trying to learn what your teachers are teaching,” said Gunnar Hagen (‘24). “If you’re not trying, then you’re not going to be productive later on, and you’re just going to rely on ChatGPT more and more.”

Hagen’s leading worry over the creation of ChatGPT is what effect it will have on society’s future.

“I think that ChatGPT’s good in some ways, but it’s also [going to] cause human knowledge to deteriorate over time,” said Hagen. “You’re going to be able to rely on AI to do everything for you, and you’re not going to need to know how to do anything [yourself].”