Ever since ChatGPT exploded into our public consciousness, the teaching fraternity in my country appears to have embraced it. Teaching is a multifaceted profession, with teachers wearing many hats in and outside the classroom. Our focus and energy are all over the place, and it’s challenging for us to indulge in deep work when students, committees, parents, extra-curricular activities vie for our attention.  

In short, ChatGPT has been lauded as a productivity hack. It has been endorsed for myriad uses, ranging from writing and editing testimonials to designing lessons and even assessing students’ essays.  

It appears to me that we are all so eager to off-load teachers’ stress that we may neglect to ask ourselves if we should use ChatGPT in the first place. I’m not going to be a hypocrite because I use it in my professional working life every day. But I would like to think that I am a discerning and judicious user of this technology.  

The other day, I was vetting my colleague’s testimonials. It was obvious that he had enlisted the help of ChatGPT because his paragraphs were replete with bombastic instances of language, such as “rejuvenating sense of purpose”. These are phrases that sound good but tell nothing to the reader. I could have finished editing his testimonials if I had turned a blind eye and accepted these reader-unfriendly descriptions. But I could not in good conscience pretend not to have noticed how the testimonials might go over the reader’s head. So I rewrote them in simple English so that my students would stand out as individuals in the reader’s mind.  

It seems that everyone is scrambling to be early adopters of ChatGPT that we neglect whether we are using it meaningfully and thoughtfully. How is the situation like for your industry?