Last week, the popular ChatGPT AI chatbot was banned from usage here at East Rockaway Jr./Sr. High School. The chatbot was banned via “Linewize,” the agent used by the school to restrict access to certain websites for students. But did why the ban happen, and what will it mean for the student body in general?
Ever since the introduction of AI in roughly early 2022, usage of the technology has skyrocketed. Because of the active usage of AI by many, it continued to be developed exponentially, with the company OpenAI playing a major role in its development. OpenAI is the creator of ChatGPT, which has ascended in model versions over the past advancements of AI.
With these advancements becoming as prominent as they are, people have begun to catch on to AI and take advantage of it, which has happened to our students. ChatGPT began to be used by a good number of students and teachers here, for better or worse. Some students used the tool to generate ideas for assignments; others used it to do schoolwork for them. The latter falls under “academic dishonesty,” according to the East Rockaway High School student handbook. A small number of teachers used the tool to generate note pages or even tests, most proving to be of rather poor quality.
Although the cons of ChatGPT seem apparent, they most likely were not the reason why the school banned the model. The most likely reason the ban was put in place was because the chatbot was non-moderatable by administration, leaving students to use the model however they wanted, which had the potential to be a security issue. Classes in the East Rockaway curriculum include AI in some of their courses and promote the tool for research, so an outright ban on the technology would not make sense if there were even the slightest interest in the tool.
The ban only affects students, so teachers will still have access to the tool. Students who utilized the tool properly will eventually need a substitute program that can be moderated by administration to continue receiving the help of AI. Those who use the tool maliciously will either have to do the work themselves or get creative with their ways to cheat. Until a new AI assistance model similar to ChatGPT is accepted by school administration, the future of artificial academic help for students will remain uncertain.
