AI will only replace academic writing if we don't change how we teach academic writing

Dan Callahan on Twitter says:

My favorite thing about chatgpt is that its answers are formulaic in the exact same way schools train kids to write answers on their state standardized tests. Will it replace GOOD writing? No. But it will meet minimum acceptability for A LOT of school writing prompts.

This has some scary implications. And it doesn’t have to do with AI. It has to do with the fact that our schools expect kids to learn how to do something that an AI can do. Now, we must move beyond that and start thinking about creativity.

We should be teaching digital writing as a separate idea from the professional writing we’ve done in the past. Essays are still in, but only if we can do it in our actual voice and write interestingly about a topic. Don’t just tell someone’s story or regurgitate. In other words, make new connections with your brain that a computer cannot.

#ai #education