CHAT GPT: THE

GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE

Teachers respond to the growing usage of ChatGPT

It can generate a five-paragraph essay in seconds. It can produce a short story mimicking Edgar Allan Poe’s writing. It can write Shakespearean sonnets, summarize books, and create speeches in the style of former presidents. No, Google didn’t just get an upgrade; this is all ChatGPT.

ChatGPT, which stands for Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer, is a chatbot built by OpenAI that serves as a conversational computer program. It allows users to input a question or request — anything from “write me a paragraph about hubris in Macbeth” to “create a warning about the stampede-related hazards of shopping on Black Friday” — and it will respond with its best, most human-like answer. But while this versatility — its ability to compose music, answer questions, write fairy tales, and create screenplays — interests and delights the average user, the reactions from teachers have been mixed.

Some, like English teacher Dr. Clara Boyle, believe that it can be an instrument for good. “We have all sorts of devices that help us think and do,” she explained, “and I would never say to a math student that they shouldn’t use a calculator.”

Chair of the English Department Dr. Anna Clark agrees, to some extent. She said, “We’re considering what it offers us as well as some of the hazards,” referring to the meetings regarding ChatGPT occurring throughout the various departments at Bishop’s.

Chief among those advantages is how it offers “the opportunity to reflect on essay conventions and originality as we discuss the writing process in our classes,” clarified Dr. Clark. “We don’t just want [the students] to write clean sentences or say what other people say, but rather engage rigorously and attentively with ideas.”

And while most people’s initial thoughts are about how this could help students, the New York Times podcast Hard Fork welcomed a guest who suggested the possibilities this opens up for teachers. English teacher of 30 years Cherie Shields, who was on the