Look, I understand that teachers are overworked, underpaid, and critically underappreciated.

That said, if you can’t be bothered to grade papers, maybe you should take a sabbatical or something.

And sure, students use ChatGPT all the time, but that doesn’t make it ok for teachers to do the same, right?

Apparently there is a software called Writable that allows teachers to use AI to grade essays. And sure, it might save them time they could use to give more or better instruction, but do we really think that’s how they’re going to use it?

The company’s CEO insists their program is a good thing. “We have a lot of teachers who are using the program and are very excited about it.”

The tool works by teachers uploading essays that are then run through ChatGPT. The program offers comments and observations. Teachers are then supposed to vet that feedback before passing it along to their students.

This is called the “human in the loop” approach.

The bottom line is that students who aren’t using AI and who are putting their own thoughts and hard work into these assignments could feel shortchanged to find out that their teachers aren’t even reading them.

But if the students aren’t putting in the work, maybe the professors are right to give as much time and effort as they’re getting.

There’s also the question of whether not allowing students to use AI will prepare them for the real world in a meaningful way.

To be honest, there’s no way to look at Writable and software like it other than as a symptom of a deeper systemic issue in the US education system.

This is nothing more than a band-aid to save them some time they desperately need, but it’s not able to fix what’s actually wrong.

I’m not sure what actually could.

If you enjoyed that story, check out what happened when a guy gave ChatGPT $100 to make as money as possible, and it turned out exactly how you would expect.