We know that advancements in AI technology have recently been freakier rather than fascinating. Luckily, this new program, ChatGPT, seems to be on the more fascinating side. Well, at least, for students.

In the simplest explanation, ChatGPT is basically a robot that can write essays for you. The program was created in November of 2022, by a company called OpenAI. It was first launched as a prototype but has now gained a lot more attention, especially being popular amongst students.

Even though experts are assuring us there will be no AI takeover in the future, we probably shouldn’t believe them. ChatGPT can literally write essays, poems, and explain Calculus and Quantum physics. It can even answer certain questions on tests. That’s a lot more than any regular person can do on their own. I can’t be the only one freaked out that a robot knows more than me.

This program definitely could be used in positive and productive ways. For example, if you don’t feel like replying to that one person’s text, now you don’t! A robot could do it for you.

On the other hand, this whole thing is still really freaky. Recently, an online mental health company, Koko, received backlash after the founder shared that he used GPT-3 to reply to users in an experiment. Later it was clarified by the cofounder that the AI was only used to help craft responses. Still, this issue is if you are expecting to talk with a person and all you get is a robot. It’s terrifying to think that someone who is reaching out for mental help may be receiving ‘help’ from a robot.

Mr. Goelbecker has mixed feelings about this program. He sees the positives but thinks that the negatives outweigh the good. He says, “It can be a good start to a lot of things but your not actually considering what it’s saying,” meaning that students could use the program to brainstorm ideas, but essentially that would never work since the temptation of just copying and pasting is too strong. “You can’t use it to replace the work, It can be good if you are struggling with a start/introduction or getting a topic developed. However, if you’re using it to replace your work, then you are not learning anything.”

Junior Giuliana Vezzola shares mixed feelings as well. She says, “It’s pretty cool how an AI can write a whole essay for you, but I don’t think it’s a good thing to actually do in the long term.”

Overall the conversations around whether this program is productive are diverse. In December 2022, OpenAI estimated that it already had about a million users. One month later, that number has grown to 100 million. This number will only continue to grow, especially with students.