Guest opinion: Writer, beware of chatbots’ impact on our kids

So far, in our discussions of artificial intelligence chatbots for student writing and the teaching of writing, there has been a key piece that needs to be added. It has to do with the role of optimism in teenagers’ lives. Its absence points to our emotional impoverishment as parents and adults and to some reasons why our youth today are so depressed. Marc Vincenti taught English at Gunn High School for 15 years and led the school reform coalition Save the 2,008. Courtesy Marc Vincenti. Chatbots are online artificial intelligence sites that, as the New York Times explained on Jan. 16, generate “eerily articulate and nuanced text in response to short prompts, with people using it to write love letters, poetry, fan fictionFiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places in ways that are imaginary or inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a narrow sense, "fiction" refers to written narratives in prose – often referring specifically to novels, novellas, and short stories.[4][5] More broadly, however, fiction encompasses imaginary narratives expressed in any medium, including not just writings but also live theatrical performances, films, television programs, radio dramas, comics, role-playing games, and video games.... — and their schoolwork.” ChatGPT — the brainchild of the artificial intelligence lab OpenAI — is already used by some college students to write term papers. No one knows how often students are using chatbots or how to sniff out the presence of chatbot prose unerringly. Chatbots have “upended some middle and high schools,” according to the Times, with some major school districts blocking the tool from their Wi-Fi networks.” The fact is that students can easily find workarounds to access ChatGPT. And Google will […]

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