Is Using Chat GPT and AI Chatbot Cheating?

Isabella Truitt, Staff Writer

Chat GPT is an AI chatbot that has been on the recent rise in being used in schools by staff and students. These programs use various textbooks, articles, and websites to construct an answer for prompts or phrases put into them. Its main use in schools is helping students learn how to properly write an essay while helping teachers figure out prompts to use in their lesson plans. AI Art is art made by artificial intelligence and has generated art used in various fields, including an advertisement, classrooms, fashion, and film. With the upbringing of the two, but the recent rise in programs has caused a direct effect on school campuses. 

Ridgeview High Schools History Teacher Elliot Hopkins was asked how people are using Chat GPT he says, “Professors in college, teachers in high schools, and jr highs are using it to generate prompts for essay questions.” Those are teachers but what about the students? Sophomore Emily Frayre says students are using Chat GPT to, “create essays so they don’t have to write it themselves.” Are the students of Ridgeview High School using Chat GPT to cheat or to help guide them through essays?

Is AI art really in need of students right now? Hopkins says, “There’s a place for it in society, it’s just we have to be very cautious on how we use it.” To create AI-generated art, artists have to use AI as a creative tool and decide which machines analyze thousands of images to make up a particular creation process, like a specific style.

How long has Chat GPT been a thing? On November 30th, 2022 Chat GPT got its initial release. Has it been out long enough to really get the jump start that it really needs? Hopkins says, “I would say it would take at least another six months to a year to really see the impact it’s having in a classroom.” If it hasn’t been out long enough to really affect classrooms should schools go as far as to block the installment? Frayre says, “ They shouldn’t ban Chat GPT in schools because they’ll either use it at home or they’ll find another way to cheat on their essays.” Hopkins says, “They could be cheating but they also have to find out what direction they want the story to go.” So yes there is still a sense of creativity in Chat GPT.

By using these installments is it cheating? Junior Alexander Sanchez says, “ I think it is cheating because students could use it to do their work for them and they’ll just get lazy because it’s doing their work for them.” Chat GPT is not cheating in the sense that you’re not copying the work of someone else. However, it is cheating in the sense that if you use an answer generated by the chatbot.