What is ChatGPT? AI technology sends schools scrambling to preserve learning

Published

3 years ago

January 18, 2023

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Not even two months after its creation, a new artificial intelligence (AI) technology called ChatGPT is getting banned from schools and stirring controversy among educators.

ChatGPT, a free and easy-to-use AI search tool, hit the ground running when it was launched to the public in November. A user types in a question and ChatGPT spits back out an easily understandable answer in an essay format.

Although a huge advancement in the technology field, educators and school systems must grapple with the new tool and the challenges it introduces.

“While the tool may be able to provide quick and easy answers to questions, it does not build critical-thinking and problem-solving skills, which are essential for academic and lifelong success,” Jenna Lyle, a spokesperson for New York City’s Department of Education, said.

New York City and Seattle public schools have banned the use of ChatGPT from their devices and networks, citing concerns about cheating and a negative impact on learning. How ChatGPT became popular so quickly

Adam Conner, vice president for technology Policy at the Center for American Progress, said ChatGPT became so popular quickly because it is one of the first AI technologies of its kind to be available to the public in a way the public can understand it.

“What is different about GPT is that it is generative, that it creates the kind of outputs in ways that normal human beings understand as opposed to [the technology] just kind of outputting code or data” that only a subset of the population understands, Conner said.

Unlike other search engines, such as Google, ChatGPT can be conversational, giving human-like responses and dialogue with a user. A user can ask ChatGPT to create a resignation letter, discussion prompts for classes and even tests for students.

Jim Chilton, CTO of Cengage Group, an education technology company, says ChatGPT can be thought of as a “virtual best friend.”

“I did this with a calculus example, ‘generate me a calculus final exam.’ Not only did it generate it, but it also was able to answer each of the problems that it gave me. It explained step by step how it solved the calculus problem, reminding me of the principles as you went through to solve the problem.” Cheating and learning concerns

What makes ChatGPT a challenge for educators is the AI technology comes up with unique wording for answers to the same question.

For example, when asking ChatGPT “What is an apple?”, one response begins, “An apple is a fruit that grows on a tree in the rose family, and is typically round and red, green, or yellow in color.” When asked the same question again, ChatGPT starts, “An apple is a pomaceous fruit, meaning it is produced by a deciduous tree in the rose family, cultivars of the species Malus domestica.”

These varying answers, which may all be correct, make it supremely difficult for an educator to discern whether a student used ChatGPT to write an assigned essay.

In a statement given to The Hill, an OpenAI spokesperson said the company is already working with educators to address their concerns about ChatGPT.

“We don’t want ChatGPT to be used for misleading purposes in schools or anywhere else, so we’re already developing mitigations to help anyone identify text generated by that system. We look forward to working with educators on useful solutions, and other ways to help teachers and students benefit from artificial intelligence,” the spokesperson said.

While technologies continue to be created to catch plagiarism or cheating with AI, an arguably bigger concern is students using ChatGPT and not learning the material.

“It’s worrying that they’re not learning the research skills, the critical thinking skills. I think this would be the highest concern. The reason why we have them write these papers isn’t for them to write papers. It’s to really build those skills around thinking,” Sean Glantz, a regional chapter support coordinator for the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA), said of students. ChatGPT isn’t always right

ChatGPT is a machine learning model, meaning it improves with increased interaction with users on the platform.

ChatGPT evolves with human interactions, with its creators saying this “dialogue format makes it possible for ChatGPT to answer followup questions, admit its mistakes, challenge incorrect premises and reject inappropriate requests.”

As it learns, it can produce incorrect information. While a concern in some ways, this can actually be a benefit to teachers.

Glantz, who is also a high school computer science teacher in California, says the incorrect information ChatGPT gives may help teach students to fact-check statements and learn more about the technology they are using.

“When this thing gives us an incredibly convincing answer, and it’s totally wrong, well, ‘How did it arrive at that?’ That provides an opportunity to get into a discussion around what is the language learning model? What is artificial intelligence, right? What is machine learning?” Glantz said.

Because ChatGPT is a language learning model, the errors are also a sign that the technology is working as it should.

It is “validation of the technology and its current maturity state, and I think we will get you to see it get smarter over time, particularly as it learns and gets more material, more information, more facts for you to build its intelligence upon,” Chilton said. Are the schools’ bans useful?

While some believe there is merit in a ban perhaps temporarily due to rapid use of ChatGPT among students, experts and teachers say the bans do not seem useful or equitable in the long term.

Although Conner said he does believe the bans on ChatGPT have “sort of a purpose,” he said, “everybody knows it’s not a universal solution.”

One major issue with the bans, Glantz said, is “equity and access.”

When a school bans ChatGPT, they can only enforce it on school computers and WiFi. While this works for students who don’t have access to technology outside of school, many students have personal devices at home they can use to access the AI technology.

“The students that are most impacted when a piece of software like ChatGPT is banned on school computers and school WiFi, that affects the kids that only have access to technology when they’re at school, using school technology,” Glantz said.

Glantz said he has seen some students go as far as to use a WiFi hotspot in school to get around the ban. Defense & National Security — Top US, Ukrainian military officials meet Energy & Environment — Disasters displaced 3 million Americans last year

Teaching students how to use ChatGPT is also important because this type of technology could be important for jobs in the future, so “making sure that we’re giving the students those skill sets to leverage technology is going to be really important,” Glantz said.

Maneuvering around or with ChatGPT may be the beginning of figuring out the relationship between schools and AI technology.

“The decisions going forward with how to address ChatGPT and AI in schools will have to be a responsibility that falls on the company, educators, parents and administrators,” according to Conner.

World

Israel and Syria agree to ceasefire, says US ambassador to Turkey

Published

2 hours ago

July 19, 2025

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Israel and Syria agree to ceasefire, says US ambassador to Turkey

Israel and Syria have agreed to a ceasefire, the US ambassador to Turkey has said.

Several hundred people have reportedly been killed this week in the south of Syria in violence involving local fighters, government authorities and Bedouin tribes.

As the violence escalated in the southern province of Sweida, Israel launched airstrikes, including attacks on Wednesday on the defence ministry in Damascus and a target near the presidential palace.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government said it aimed to protect Syrian Druze – part of a small but influential minority that also has followers in Lebanon and Israel.

In a post on X, the US ambassador to Turkey, Tom Barrack, said Israel and Syria had agreed to a ceasefire supported by Turkey, Jordan and others.

“We call upon Druze, Bedouins, and Sunnis to put down their weapons and together with other minorities build a new and united Syrian identity,” Mr Barrack said in a post on X.

The Israeli embassy in Washington and Syrian Consulate in Canada did not immediately comment or respond to requests for comment from the Reuters news agency.

The ceasefire announcement came after the US worked to put an end to the conflict, with secretary of state Marco Rubio saying on Wednesday that steps had been agreed to end a “troubling and horrifying situation”.

After Israel warned it would destroy forces attacking Syrian Druze, Syrian President Ahmed al Sharaa told the minority group in a televised statement on Thursday that “we reject any attempt to drag you into hands of an external party”.

He then claimed Israel has “consistently targeted our stability and created discord among us since the fall of the former regime”.

It comes after the United Nations’ migration agency said earlier on Friday that nearly 80,000 people had been displaced in the region since violence broke out on Sunday.

It also said that essential services, including water and electricity, had collapsed in Sweida, telecommunications systems were widely disrupted, and health facilities in Sweida and Daraa were under severe strain.

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You can receive breaking news alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News app. You can also follow us on WhatsApp and subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.

US

Trump sues Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch for $10bn after Epstein letter report

Published

2 hours ago

July 19, 2025

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Trump sues Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch for bn after Epstein letter report

Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch, two Wall Street Journal reporters and the publication’s owner, News Corp.

The US president has accused the named individuals of defamation, claiming they acted with malicious intent and caused him overwhelming financial and reputational harm.

The lawsuit, which was filed in Miami, seeks at least $10bn (£7.5bn) in damages.

In a post on Truth Social, Mr Trump called the lawsuit “historic legal action” which was filed on behalf of himself and all Americans who he said will “no longer tolerate the abusive wrongdoings of the Fake News Media”.

“I hope Rupert and his ‘friends’ are looking forward to the many hours of depositions and testimonies they will have to provide in this case,” he wrote.

It comes after Mr Trump claimed that a letter he allegedly wrote to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein was “fake” and said he would sue the “ass off” Rupert Murdoch, who owns the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), which first published the story.

The publication had said Mr Trump wrote the letter as part of a collection Epstein’s former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, planned to give him as a 50th birthday present in 2003.

It claimed the message, allegedly from Mr Trump, featured several lines of typewritten text, concluding with: “May every day be another wonderful secret.”

The text was framed by what appeared to be a hand-drawn outline of a naked woman, the WSJ claimed. The letter is also said to have featured the signature “Donald”.

Mr Trump immediately denied writing the letter when the WSJ report was published on Thursday night.

“The Wall Street Journal printed a FAKE letter, supposedly to Epstein,” he wrote on Truth Social.

“These are not my words, not the way I talk. Also, I don’t draw pictures. I told Rupert Murdoch it was a Scam, that he shouldn’t print this Fake Story. But he did, and now I’m going to sue his ass off, and that of his third rate newspaper.”

Mr Trump ignored questions about Epstein as he signed a cryptocurrency bill at the White House earlier on Friday.

The president’s lawsuit comes as the US government filed a motion to unseal grand jury transcripts related to Epstein, who took his own life while awaiting trial in 2019.

In a Manhattan federal court filing, the Department of Justice said the criminal cases against Epstein and Maxwell are a matter of public interest, justifying the release of associated grand jury transcripts.

Earlier on Friday, Mr Trump said attorney general Pam Bondi had been asked to release the transcripts because of “the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein”.

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The justice department previously said it had around 200 documents relating to Epstein and that the FBI had thousands more.

It is unknown how much of this is grand jury testimony, which is typically kept secret under US law.

The president has faced increased scrutiny over his alleged friendship with Epstein since his administration’s U-turn on the so-called ‘Epstein files’.

Mr Trump pledged to release files on Epstein during his presidential campaign, as his MAGA movement accused the Biden administration of suppressing the extent of Epstein’s paedophilia, predatory behaviour and his so-called “client list” – thought to contain names of the rich and famous who conspired with him in his child sex trafficking operation.

But after a review of the evidence the US government has, the Justice Department recently determined that no “further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted”.

Venezuela releases jailed Americans in prisoner swap

The Trump administration said on Friday that it had negotiated an exchange with Venezuela, resulting in the release of 10 jailed Americans.

US secretary of state Marco Rubio said the prisoners, who had been held in the South American country, were “on their way to freedom”.

In return, 252 Venezuelan migrants being held in El Salvador have been freed, the Venezuelan government said.

They had been held in the notorious maximum security CECOT prison after being deported by the US.

Sports

NASCAR nixes ’26 Chicago race, eyes ’27 return

Published

3 hours ago

July 18, 2025

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NASCAR nixes '26 Chicago race, eyes '27 return

Associated Press

Jul 18, 2025, 06:30 PM ET

CHICAGO — NASCAR is pressing pause on its Chicago Street Race, answering at least one major question about its schedule for next season.

NASCAR raced on a street course in downtown Chicago on the first weekend in July each of the last three years. But it had a three-year contract with the city, leaving the future of the event in question.

Writing to Mayor Brandon Johnson on Friday, race president Julie Giese said the plan is to explore the potential of a new event weekend with his office and other community leaders while also working on a more efficient course build and breakdown.

“Our goal is for the Chicago Street Race to return in 2027 with an event that further enhances the experience for residents and visitors alike, as we work together towards a new potential date, shorter build schedule, and additional tourism draws,” Giese wrote in her letter to Johnson.

Giese said NASCAR is keeping its Chicago Street Race office and plans to continue its community partnerships.

“We deeply value our relationship with the City of Chicago and remain steadfast in our commitment to being a good neighbor and partner,” she said in the letter.

NASCAR is replacing its Chicago stop with a street race in San Diego.

A message was left Friday seeking comment from Johnson’s office.

NASCAR’s Chicago weekend featured Xfinity and Cup Series races on a 12-turn, 2.2-mile course against the backdrop of Lake Michigan and Grant Park – to go along with a festival-like atmosphere with music and entertainment options.

The goal was an event that appealed to both a new audience in one of NASCAR’s most important regions and the most ardent racing fans. NASCAR used to race at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, a 45-mile drive from downtown, but it pulled out after the 2019 season.

Johnson’s predecessor, Lori Lightfoot, was in charge when the three-year contract for the downtown weekend was finalized.

It wasn’t exactly a popular move in Chicago. Local businesses and residents were frustrated by the street closures in a heavily trafficked area for tourists in the summer. But organizers shrunk the construction schedule from 43 days in 2023 to 25 this year, winning over some of the race’s critics.

Drivers and their teams had some concerns about the course ahead of the first weekend. But the setup was widely praised by the time the third year rolled around – both the course and the ability to walk to the circuit from their downtown hotel.

Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson called Chicago “probably my favorite event in NASCAR each year.”

The racing in downtown Chicago has been dominated by Shane van Gisbergen, who won the Xfinity and Cup races this year from the pole. He also won in Chicago in his Cup debut in 2023 and last year’s Xfinity Series race.

“I love the track,” he said after this year’s Cup win. “It’s a cool place to come to. You feel a nice vibe. You feel a good vibe in the mornings walking to the track with the fans. It’s pretty unique like that.”