With teachers and students back into the school routine, the discussion on the integrity of ChatGPT is once again heating up. So, what is ChatGPT? ChatGPT, which stands for Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer, is an artificial intelligence program that generates dialogue by mimicking human conversation. OpenAI, an artificial intelligence research company, created, developed, and published ChatGPT on November 30, 2022. Although there have been many fierce debates on applying artificial intelligence to schoolwork, ChatGPT has the potential to become that catalyst for breaking through barriers while maintaining a sense of morals and ethics.

In a research analysis conducted earlier this year by study.com, 203 K-12 teachers were surveyed regarding the use of ChatGPT for educational purposes. The results concluded that 67% of teachers do not believe ChatGPT should be banned from schools. This statistic conveys that perhaps it can be for more than just undesirable intentions. For example, people who have challenges reading can put ChatGPT into service to break down a text or excerpt from a perplexing printed work such as a novel. Yet, this is not the only beneficial component of ChatGPT.

ChatGPT can also generate ideas pertaining to a specific topic. When prompted, “Make me a morning routine” the artificial intelligence application responded with, “Wake up early, hydrate, and refresh. Exercise and practice mindfulness. Healthy breakfast and planning. Express creativity and connect. Practice gratitude and organize.” These directions highlight the benefits of using ChatGPT. Providing educators with a platform for artificial intelligence that teaches students how to employ this tool responsibly, will open doors to help people without doing the task for them.

There will always exist a way for students to cheat on school assignments but hopefully, they will realize that this is not to their long-term benefit. When a student applies ChatGPT just for answers it will not teach them how to problem solve to get the answer. However, when artificial intelligence is implemented as a collaborative tool with the ability to reinforce what has been learned, it creates the opportunity for a win-win. With chatbots here to stay, this is the moment to foster originality versus replace it. And just for the record, this article was composed without the assistance of ChatGPT.