Education can be an incredibly rewarding but demanding profession, as the workload of teachers is ever increasing. The progress of students needs to be assessed, usually through tests, exams, essays and coursework, all of which need to be reviewed and marked. The workload of students is also increasing, as they struggle to revise for their exams and meet all the deadlines for their assessments. Unfortunately, a minority of students give in to the obvious temptation of using generative artificial intelligence (AI) to write their essays.
Last September, David Banks closed his final state-of-our-schools address as chancellor by embracing a once-taboo topic in public education. "AI can analyze in real time all the work our children are doing in school," Banks said. Less than a year later, AI is all over the place, and keeping it out of classrooms is unrealistic, if not impossible. That's why schools like United Charter High School for the Humanities II in the Bronx have decided that embracing the technology is the only way to safely corral it.