Notes for Teachers Worried about Students turning in A.I. - generated "papers and reports"

This post is NOT for Sunday School teachers. Our kids don't write papers. Rather, it's for the public school or college teacher who has found this forum via search and is worried about their students writing papers using "A.I." such as Chat GPT.

What prompted me to post this was an email I received from "Mark," an assistant professor at a college in Texas. Mark found this topic via Google Search and was upset that I had suggested using A.I. at all. "It's hurting students, not helping them!" he wrote. I told him that I don't pretend to know everything about the issue of A.I.-generated papers and know it is a concern, but my first inclination is not to reject something because it is new and challenging to "the way we've always done it."

Recently around the barbecue, I asked a friend about "Mark's" emailed concerns. My friend, who is a professor at a Big Ten university, confirmed that they too were "concerned" with students writing papers with A.I., Chat GPT, and papers that began with drafts written by A.I.  To date, however, he said it wasn't a big problem, but the faculty was discussing how they can better identify when a paper has A.I.-generated content, and what the future holds as A.I. gets better.

My friend was intrigued by my suggestion that teachers invite his students to submit A.I. generated papers -- along with their own commentary ON how good the A.I. version was. In fact, he quipped, "I can always count on you for a different perspective," to which I replied, "That's what being a Sunday School teacher does to you!"

My suggestions to my professor friend (and to Mark) were very similar to the idea I suggested in the "How to Pray" example above.  Here's some more detail...

Chat GPT and other similar A.I. content creators are not very good at "analyzing" and arguing their own content.  So rather than try to detect A.I.-generated content, invite students to create A.I.-generated content on a specific subject, and then have them also CRITIQUE the A.I. results in their own side-by-side commentary. Their analysis could be along the lines of what could be said better, what's wrong,  missing facts, research and points of view that were left out, important details that need more information or highlighting, etc. Their commentary should also "fact-check" A.I.'s work (wrong facts are often how you spot A.I.-generated content).

My friend said, "You mean 'grade' their own paper?" Yes, so to speak -- especially if by "grade" you mean the kind good teachers do when they write extended replies in the margins.

We didn't solve his faculty's concerns, but it gave him a lot to think about, and I hope this posting does the same for those who find it.

If you have comments or suggestions on this topic not related to Sunday School, you can email me at webmaster.rotation@gmail.com

To reiterate this topic's main point:
In a creative Sunday School, we WANT students to use different mediums to create shareable and discussable content, and we're not worried about plagiarism or papers. If using Chat GPT gets them excited to do that, then it's a tool we can use.