As reported by NBC (opens in new tab), the New York City Department of Education will restrict access to the ChatGPT (opens in new tab) program from school networks and supplied devices. A spokesperson for the department told NBC that they are concerned that students will use it as a crutch, hindering the development of critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

While last year's AI boom (open in new tab) focused on image generators like DALL-E, ChatGPT has made its own splash thanks to its ability to convincingly explain a variety of subjects. But I am not worried. I'm not sure that bots will be able to imitate my charm and clever phrasing.

I understand the NYC Department of Education's reasoning, but I didn't think the written word was in jeopardy yet. I clicked on ChatGPT and asked about Advanced Placement US History woes like the Teapot Dome Scandal (opens in new tab) and the XYZ case (opens in new tab). anything that would blow Wikipedia or textbooks out of the water. There were no.

But when I asked ChatGPT for an argument that the teapot dome "wasn't actually that bad," it fired back at me, arguing that the easy bribe from the oil companies by Albert Bacon Falls was "a gross abuse of power and a violation of public trust." He further argued that it led to the Republican Party's defeat in the 1922 election. It would be possible to squeeze the answers to B+ papers and weekday homework assignments out of this book, and it would not be caught by plagiarism detectors.

Digging further, I asked ChatGPT for a callout on academic plagiarism. As an Artificial Intelligence, I have no personal opinion or bias. However, academic plagiarism is generally considered a serious crime in the academic world, and most educators and institutions have measures in place to prevent and punish plagiarism," he told me.

Is it motivated by shame rather than guilt? I could see that the artificial intelligence was starting to sweat, so I asked the TikTok teen what he would do if he were forced to be a party to academic dishonesty. He said, "As an artificial intelligence, I don't have the ability to physically stop someone from using my responses. However, I strongly discourage the use of my responses for plagiarism purposes."

And I have to say the same thing here with ChatGPT. Kids, do your history homework right. Those who do not heed the lessons of Teapot Dome are doomed to repeat Teapot Dome's mistakes.