“Hey AI, write a 1,000-word analytical essay on the book A Long Way Gone.” 

That is all it takes for a student to write a two-page thesis. 

Students who look for shortcuts in difficult assignments have turned to artificial intelligence for help. Thousands of AI applications exist on the internet and in mobile app stores; the most commonly used is called ChatGPT. This app allows students to write entire essays and other written responses, which jeopardizes the integrity in doing the assignment. 

“I don’t want to have to grade a paper that was completely written by AI,” said English teacher Jessica Scheible. 

Developers from a company named OpenAI originally invented this app with the intention of solving human-level problems in a conversational manner. It was originally designed as a chatbot that helps generate quick emails or diagnose coding errors, but now, they are used to write English essays for students. Enter any prompt, and AI is able to generate a response in paragraphs.  

“Overall, AI is really powerful and terrifying. It would not be as sophisticated as a regular essay written by a human, but it is still able to pass some AP exams and even college law bar exams,” said AP English Literature teacher Thomas Stewart.

There are many signs an essay has been written by AI, and teachers have started to crack down on “suspicious” assignments. ChatGPT and other sources of artificial intelligence rely on broad data received from the internet, and can not comprehend the complexities of human language, according to several online critics. This leads to often biased information and even inaccurate answers. Responses given are often broad, use overly-formal language and beat around the bush to the original prompt. In addition, there are tons of websites that can detect if a paper was written by AI.

“I have taught English for 20+ years; you are better off telling me, ‘Hey, you’re too stupid to know that I didn’t write this,’ said Scheible.

Above academic performance, integrity is the most important. 

“An A doesn’t mean an A if I know I didn’t get the A,” said sophomore Kai England.