--- title: "Professors Say ChatGPT Is Writing Terrible Papers That Would Get Failing Grades" description: "Not every college professor out there is convinced that \"we’re witnessing the death of the college essay in real time\" thanks to ChatGPT." date: "2022-12-19" modified: "2022-12-19" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/professor-chatgpt-terrible-papers-failing-grades" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "OpenAI" tags: - "chatgpt" - "the digest" --- # Professors Say ChatGPT Is Writing Terrible Papers That Would Get Failing Grades ![Not every college professor out there is convinced that "we’re witnessing the death of the college essay in real time" thanks to ChatGPT.]() *\Image: Getty Images/Futurism\* ## F for Effort OpenAI's text-generating ChatGPT has made major waves since being made available to the public last month. The AI has spat out everything from usable [source code]() to [vaguely ]()[believable short stories]() — and its prowess has even [shocked some academics](), who were taken by its essay-writing skills and fretted that they were already on par with human undergrads. But not every lecturer out there is convinced that "we’re witnessing the death of the college essay in real time," as one Twitter user [argued](). In other words, it may be a terrible idea after all to use ChatGPT for your next college exam — in fact, you might be a shortcut to a terrible grade, even if you're not caught cheating. "I'm not a huge fan of the gloom and doom," Pennsylvania State English professor Stuart Selber [told *Insider*](). "Every year or two, there's something that's ostensibly going to take down higher education as we know it. So far, that hasn't happened." ## Alarmist AI To Selber, it's just history repeating itself. "You can go back a couple decades and find similar alarm over Word, Wikipedia, and the Internet in general," he told *Insider*. Selber argues that ChatGPT is simply rehashing existing information and arguments, while failing to actually question the data or turn these arguments into one that hasn't already been made — something that makes a good essay in college. College history professor Jacqueline Antonovich agreed, [tweeting]() that the essay ChatGPT generated after she input a midterm essay prompt "would earn an F." "Probably an F- if that's possible," she added. ## Express Yourself ChatGPT may not be very good at writing college essays, but that doesn't mean it's can't be a useful resource for students. University of Leeds lecturer Leah Henrickson told *Insider* that she sees a future for this kind of technology in the classroom, for instance, allowing non-native English speakers to express themselves. "Our students know that these tools exist," she said. "Our job is to help them use them critically." **READ MORE:** [Cheating on your college essay with ChatGPT won't get you good grades, say professors — but AI could make education fairer]() \[*Insider*\] **More on ChatGPT:** *[Professors Alarmed by New AI That Writes Essays About as Well as Dumb Undergrads]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()