As we move into the second half of 2024, most of the energy and noise around AI in schools continues to be directed toward the ‘problem’ of student (mis)use of generative AI.

This post is being written on a day that reports are surfacing that OpenAI now claims to have developed a tool that can watermark text generated by its ChatGPT tool – therefore giving schools an easy way of knowing when student writing is AI-assisted.

So far, OpenAI is saying that it has decided not to release the tool in order to ‘protect’ its users. Given the company’s track record of over-hyping its products in order to continue to attract investors, the actual existence of any watermarking tool remains a moot point. Yet, the furore that this story is provoking from educators is indicative of the continued heightened tensions around how best to police student use of GenAI.

In a recent DP24 project interview with a teacher from Garden College, concerns around policing student (mis)use of AI were acknowledged as dominating staffroom conversations (and teachers’ general mood) around the technology. In short, there is a danger that ongoing panics around ChatGPT ‘cheating’ are beginning to wear teachers down – discouraging them from exploring how the technology might fit into their own professional practices:

[Neil]: How are staff feeling about AI at the moment?

[Veronica]: We’ve got what I feel like are two sort of opposing walls of AI closing in on teachers. On the one hand, a lot of resources and time and energy have been invested into how we can prevent inappropriate AI use from appearing in student assessment tasks. So, to be honest, a lot of teachers would be grappling with, the question of how can I dissuade or monitor or check that that AI hasn’t been used inappropriately in assessments? It has created a lot more workload and been a big negative, especially for our senior year teachers. We also have a lot of teachers that are quite stressed and anxious around this grey area of authentication. 

[Neil]: But are people getting bored of the hype around AI?

[Veronica]: … I don’t think people are avoiding AI due to boredom … I think it would probably stem from a sense of overload or exhaustion. If people are going well, “la, la, la, la, la” (puts fingers in her ears), “I don’t want to use this new platform, I don’t want to sign up for another account” then that’s nothing new in, education. So, you’ve definitely got people that are feeling that way. You’ve also got a cohort of staff whose first experiences with AI have been with a student using it for malpractice, and that has left a bad taste in their mouth. But I do think that if we offered training or said, ‘Hey, this is something that could be helpful’ then people’s ears are still open. If I had to say whether the vibe was resistant or open-minded, it will be still tilting towards open-minded. We’re still 65% positive.

01_08_24: interview with Veronica (English Teacher – Garden College)