Now that ChatGPT has Gone Viral on TikTok

Right now, I’m filming senior “memory videos” where they share their favorite memory of being at the school. As one was thinking, he looked at a friend and said, “Quick, generate three ideas of my favorite memory from here.” And as I looked at him, he said, “I’m just obsessed with ChatGPT now.”

As so are many of the creators on Tiktok. From Barry Enderwick of Sandwiches of History, who makes a ChatGPT sandwich every Friday, to the woman who made strange crochet animals invented by the tool.

This is the tool all the kids are talking about. Think fidget spinners, fidget cubes, bottle flipping, the floor is lava kind of obsession. Except this one won’t go away.

I’ve been fielding questions and teaching teachers how to save time. 

As I asked a concerned parent,

“What kinds of things do you get when you search Google?”

And the answer was, “Well, whatever I search for.”

And I said, “Well, the things you get from ChatGPT are the things you prompt.”

Some would like to pretend that ChatGPT doesn’t exist and make it to the end of the school year. But you don’t have a choice. It is here, and the phone calls are starting. And if they aren’t, they will.

Add to that the misinformation of half-truths and perhaps a few half-wits as well as some honestly — poorly written things coming from ChatGPT-like tools that haven’t been well edited or vetted, and we have concerns, and understandably so.

So, I’m writing and studying, and sharing. I am working on training teachers and having conversations that need to be had. And in some cases, teachers are changing how they assess writing — as well as they should for a while.

But if you think that you can ignore ChatGPT and the implications for education, it is like those who ignored the Internet, Google, and social media when they came along. And at the same time, many said education was over — but it wasn’t. Some great things have happened along with some negatives, and such it will be again.

But right now, teachers can save so much time, and we can improve learning. But we’ll have to learn together and learn how to adjust.

And that’s something worth chatting about!