how to make chatgpt write an essay

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How to Get ChatGPT to Write an Essay: Prompts, Outlines, & More

Last Updated: April 28, 2024 Fact Checked

Getting ChatGPT to Write the Essay

Using ai to help you write, expert interview.

This article was written by Bryce Warwick, JD and by wikiHow staff writer, Nicole Levine, MFA . Bryce Warwick is currently the President of Warwick Strategies, an organization based in the San Francisco Bay Area offering premium, personalized private tutoring for the GMAT, LSAT and GRE. Bryce has a JD from the George Washington University Law School. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 46,564 times.

Are you curious about using ChatGPT to write an essay? While most instructors have tools that make it easy to detect AI-written essays, there are ways you can use OpenAI's ChatGPT to write papers without worrying about plagiarism or getting caught. In addition to writing essays for you, ChatGPT can also help you come up with topics, write outlines, find sources, check your grammar, and even format your citations. This wikiHow article will teach you the best ways to use ChatGPT to write essays, including helpful example prompts that will generate impressive papers.

Things You Should Know

• To have ChatGPT write an essay, tell it your topic, word count, type of essay, and facts or viewpoints to include.
• ChatGPT is also useful for generating essay topics, writing outlines, and checking grammar.
• Because ChatGPT can make mistakes and trigger AI-detection alarms, it's better to use AI to assist with writing than have it do the writing.

• Before using the OpenAI's ChatGPT to write your essay, make sure you understand your instructor's policies on AI tools. Using ChatGPT may be against the rules, and it's easy for instructors to detect AI-written essays.
• While you can use ChatGPT to write a polished-looking essay, there are drawbacks. Most importantly, ChatGPT cannot verify facts or provide references. This means that essays created by ChatGPT may contain made-up facts and biased content. [1] X Research source It's best to use ChatGPT for inspiration and examples instead of having it write the essay for you.

• The topic you want to write about.
• Essay length, such as word or page count. Whether you're writing an essay for a class, college application, or even a cover letter , you'll want to tell ChatGPT how much to write.
• Other assignment details, such as type of essay (e.g., personal, book report, etc.) and points to mention.
• If you're writing an argumentative or persuasive essay , know the stance you want to take so ChatGPT can argue your point.
• If you have notes on the topic that you want to include, you can also provide those to ChatGPT.
• When you plan an essay, think of a thesis, a topic sentence, a body paragraph, and the examples you expect to present in each paragraph.
• It can be like an outline and not an extensive sentence-by-sentence structure. It should be a good overview of how the points relate.

• "Write a 2000-word college essay that covers different approaches to gun violence prevention in the United States. Include facts about gun laws and give ideas on how to improve them."
• This prompt not only tells ChatGPT the topic, length, and grade level, but also that the essay is personal. ChatGPT will write the essay in the first-person point of view.
• "Write a 4-page college application essay about an obstacle I have overcome. I am applying to the Geography program and want to be a cartographer. The obstacle is that I have dyslexia. Explain that I have always loved maps, and that having dyslexia makes me better at making them."

Tyrone Showers

Be specific when using ChatGPT. Clear and concise prompts outlining your exact needs help ChatGPT tailor its response. Specify the desired outcome (e.g., creative writing, informative summary, functional resume), any length constraints (word or character count), and the preferred emotional tone (formal, humorous, etc.)

• In our essay about gun control, ChatGPT did not mention school shootings. If we want to discuss this topic in the essay, we can use the prompt, "Discuss school shootings in the essay."
• Let's say we review our college entrance essay and realize that we forgot to mention that we grew up without parents. Add to the essay by saying, "Mention that my parents died when I was young."
• In the Israel-Palestine essay, ChatGPT explored two options for peace: A 2-state solution and a bi-state solution. If you'd rather the essay focus on a single option, ask ChatGPT to remove one. For example, "Change my essay so that it focuses on a bi-state solution."

Pay close attention to the content ChatGPT generates. If you use ChatGPT often, you'll start noticing its patterns, like its tendency to begin articles with phrases like "in today's digital world." Once you spot patterns, you can refine your prompts to steer ChatGPT in a better direction and avoid repetitive content.

• "Give me ideas for an essay about the Israel-Palestine conflict."
• "Ideas for a persuasive essay about a current event."
• "Give me a list of argumentative essay topics about COVID-19 for a Political Science 101 class."

• "Create an outline for an argumentative essay called "The Impact of COVID-19 on the Economy."
• "Write an outline for an essay about positive uses of AI chatbots in schools."
• "Create an outline for a short 2-page essay on disinformation in the 2016 election."

• "Find peer-reviewed sources for advances in using MRNA vaccines for cancer."
• "Give me a list of sources from academic journals about Black feminism in the movie Black Panther."
• "Give me sources for an essay on current efforts to ban children's books in US libraries."

• "Write a 4-page college paper about how global warming is changing the automotive industry in the United States."
• "Write a 750-word personal college entrance essay about how my experience with homelessness as a child has made me more resilient."
• You can even refer to the outline you created with ChatGPT, as the AI bot can reference up to 3000 words from the current conversation. [3] X Research source For example: "Write a 1000 word argumentative essay called 'The Impact of COVID-19 on the United States Economy' using the outline you provided. Argue that the government should take more action to support businesses affected by the pandemic."

• One way to do this is to paste a list of the sources you've used, including URLs, book titles, authors, pages, publishers, and other details, into ChatGPT along with the instruction "Create an MLA Works Cited page for these sources."
• You can also ask ChatGPT to provide a list of sources, and then build a Works Cited or References page that includes those sources. You can then replace sources you didn't use with the sources you did use.

Expert Q&A

• Because it's easy for teachers, hiring managers, and college admissions offices to spot AI-written essays, it's best to use your ChatGPT-written essay as a guide to write your own essay. Using the structure and ideas from ChatGPT, write an essay in the same format, but using your own words. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Always double-check the facts in your essay, and make sure facts are backed up with legitimate sources. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• If you see an error that says ChatGPT is at capacity , wait a few moments and try again. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

• Using ChatGPT to write or assist with your essay may be against your instructor's rules. Make sure you understand the consequences of using ChatGPT to write or assist with your essay. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• ChatGPT-written essays may include factual inaccuracies, outdated information, and inadequate detail. [4] X Research source Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

Thanks for reading our article! If you’d like to learn more about completing school assignments, check out our in-depth interview with Bryce Warwick, JD .

• ↑ https://help.openai.com/en/articles/6783457-what-is-chatgpt
• ↑ https://platform.openai.com/examples/default-essay-outline
• ↑ https://help.openai.com/en/articles/6787051-does-chatgpt-remember-what-happened-earlier-in-the-conversation
• ↑ https://www.ipl.org/div/chatgpt/

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How to Use ChatGPT to Write Essays That Impress

Step 1: Use ChatGPT to Find and Refine Essay Topics

• Log into the service and type the following prompt into ChatGPT:

• As you can see, ChatGPT gave several good ideas for our essay. If you want to refine the idea further, you can ask the chatbot to cut out some parts of the idea and replace them. Or, you can ask for more context in certain parts. Example – “Expand more on topic number 5 and what it means.”

Step 2: Ask ChatGPT to Construct an Outline

• With the same chat open, type out “ Give me an essay outline for <selected topic>. Make sure to keep it structured as I’ll use it to write my essay .” In this case, I will use topic number 2 since it aligns with what I had in mind.

• As you can see above, we now have a structured outline for our essay. We can use this to write our essay or have ChatGPT do that job. Nonetheless, it’s a good starting point. As always, you can have the AI chatbot cut out parts of the outline or specifically add new ones depending on your requirement.

Step 3: Get ChatGPT to Cite Sources for Your Essay

Even though we have the idea and the outline, we will need to do our research for proof supporting our essay. Thankfully, ChatGPT can be of some help here. Since the chatbot is adept at moderate research, users can get a general idea of where to look for gathering information. Let’s begin doing that.

• Let’s begin asking ChatGPT for sources. With the same chat open, type in the following prompt:

• Now we have a list of 10 sources we can reference from. However, you can also see that ChatGPT mentions the year 2021 in some of them. Therefore, it’s best to use these websites but navigate to the latest pages pertaining to your essay for research. This applies to every topic, so always do it. Also, chatbots like ChatGPT have a habit of hallucinating and making up information, so do be careful.

Step 4: Have ChatGPT Write the Essay

• In the same chat, type the following prompt – “With the topic and outline available to you, generate a 700-word essay. Make sure to keep it structured and concise yet informational. Also, keep in mind my target audience is <Insert target audience> so cater to that accordingly.”
• In the middle of the essay, ChatGPT might stop and not answer. Simply type “ Continue ,” and it will finish the rest of the essay.

Step 5: Edit the Essay with ChatGPT

No matter if you have used ChatGPT to draft a complete essay or have written one yourself, you can use this step to make ChatGPT your co-editor and grammar checker. While your essay might need an initial look from a human, you can definitely use the bot to hash out the tone and add little details.

• Either open up the same chat or have your essay already in the clipboard. With that done, type out the following prompt:

Step 6: Export the Essay for Submission

However, for those who want to export the essay into a more aesthetic format, we have just the thing for you. There is no shortage of best ChatGPT Chrome extensions on the internet right now. We have one such selection linked in our list that can export selective chats onto beautiful image formats if you want to show off your essay. Check it out and let us know how you liked it.

Bonus: ChatGPT and AI Apps to Write Essays

1. writesonic.

Ryter is another helpful AI writing assistant that not only helps with essays but all types of articles. The service is powered by a language model that gives it intelligence. Rytr comes with 40+ different use cases and 20+ writing tones for all types of written material. For those who don’t want to stick to English, it even comes with support for 30+ languages.

Upanishad Sharma

Combining his love for Literature and Tech, Upanishad dived into the world of technology journalism with fire. Now he writes about anything and everything while keeping a keen eye on his first love of gaming. Often found chronically walking around the office.

Im student i want to become financially independent woman in life so I want esay essay write

I am housewife and I want easy essay I want to change my life my husband was job less and I want to work online part time job plz help I am enter pass

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How to Write Your Essay Using ChatGPT

5-minute read

• 2nd May 2023

It’s tempting, isn’t it? You’ve read about and probably also witnessed how quickly ChatGPT can knock up text, seemingly in any genre or style and of any length, in less time than it takes you to make a cup of tea. However, getting ChatGPT to write your essay for you would be plagiarism . Universities and colleges are alive to the issue, and you may face serious academic penalties if you’re found to have used AI in that way.

So that’s that, right? Not necessarily.

This post is not about how to get ChatGPT to write your essay . It’s about how you can use the tool to help yourself write an essay .

What Is ChatGPT?

Let’s start with the basics. ChatGPT is one of several chatbots that can answer questions in a conversational style, as if the answer were coming from a human. It provides answers based on information it receives in development and in response to prompts you provide.

In that respect, like a human, ChatGPT is limited by the information it has. Where it lacks the information, it has a tendency to fill the gaps regardless . This action is dangerous if you’re relying on the accuracy of the information, and it’s another good reason you should not get ChatGPT to write your essay for you.

How Can You Use ChatGPT to Help With Your Essay?

Forget about the much talked-about writing skills of ChatGPT – writing is your thing here. Instead, think of ChatGPT as your assistant. Here are some ideas for how you can make it work for you.

Essay Prompts

If your task is to come up with your own essay topic but you find yourself staring at a blank page, you can use ChatGPT for inspiration. Your prompt could look something like this:

ChatGPT can offer several ideas. The choice of which one to write about (and you may, of course, still come up with one of your own) will be up to you, based on what interests you and the topic’s potential for in-depth analysis.

Essay Outlines

Having decided on your essay topic – or perhaps you’ve already been given one by your instructor – you may be struggling to figure out how to structure the essay. You can use ChatGPT to suggest an outline. Your prompt can be along these lines:

Just as you should not use ChatGPT to write an essay for you, you should not use it to research one – that’s your job.

If, however, you’re struggling to understand a particular extract, you can ask ChatGPT to summarize it or explain it in simpler terms.

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That said, you can’t rely on ChatGPT to be factually accurate in the information it provides, even when you think the information would be in its database, as we discovered in another post. Indeed, when we asked ChatGPT whether we should fact-check its information, the response was:

An appropriate use of ChatGPT for research would be to ask for academic resources for further reading on a particular topic. The advantage of doing this is that, in going on to locate and read the suggested resources, you will have checked that they exist and that the content is relevant and accurately set out in your essay.

Instead of researching the topic as a whole, you could use ChatGPT to generate suggestions for the occasional snippet of information, like this:

Before deciding which of its suggestions – if any – to include, you should ask ChatGPT for the source of the fact or statistic so you can check it and provide the necessary citation.

Referencing

Even reading the word above has probably made you groan. As if writing the essay isn’t hard enough, you then have to not only list all the sources you used, but also make sure that you’ve formatted them in a particular style. Here’s where you can use ChatGPT. We have a separate post dealing specifically with this topic, but in brief, you can ask something like this:

Where information is missing, as in the example above, ChatGPT will likely fill in the gaps. In such cases, you’ll have to ensure that the information it fills in is correct.

Proofreading

After finishing the writing and referencing, you’d be well advised to proofread your work, but you’re not always the best person to do so – you’d be tired and would likely read only what you expect to see. At least as a first step, you can copy and paste your essay into ChatGPT and ask it something like this:

You’ve got the message that you can’t just ask ChatGPT to write your essay, right? But in some areas, ChatGPT can help you write your essay, providing, as with any tool, you use it carefully and are alert to the risks.

We should point out that universities and colleges have different attitudes toward using AI – including whether you need to cite its use in your reference list – so always check what’s acceptable.

After using ChatGPT to help with your work, you can always ask our experts to look over it to check your references and/or improve your grammar, spelling, and tone. We’re available 24/7, and you can even try our services for free .

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How to Use ChatGPT for Research and Essays

Want to use ChatGPT to help out with research and essays? To avoid inaccurate information, there are certain ways you can use it to your advantage.

For better or worse, OpenAI’s ChatGPT has become a big part of our lives. It’s become integral to gathering information, researching topics, and creating written works. And frankly, not using it might put you at a disadvantage academically.

However, this AI is not flawless; there is a method to use it to help with your essays and research. Using it the right way will help you avoid plagiarism issues or inaccurate information. Here, we’ll show you how to use ChatGPT to write an essay ethically, so it comes out as a quality, factual, and original piece.

1. Draw Your Outline Without ChatGPT

Assuming you already have an idea for your project, the first thing you should do before you hop on ChatGPT’s website is to prepare your thesis and outline without using AI. It’s a vital step to making sure the core of your essay actually comes from you.

If you use ChatGPT to prompt an outline for you, it could promote idea laziness, and you will find ChatGPT’s suggestions may have replaced the ones you could have produced on your own. So, get a piece of paper or a blank word processor page and create an outline for your essay.

Also, ChatGPT will avoid controversial topics—even in an outline. Therefore, you might find yourself with an outline missing vital pieces of historical sections if you rely on it. This bias is one of the major problems with OpenAI’s ChatGPT .

2. Prompt ChatGPT to Draw a Parallel Outline

Before you begin this section, if this is your first time using ChatGPT, you should read our guide on how to use ChatGPT . It will help you with creating an account and defining its capabilities. Once that’s out of the way, you can move on to the next step.

Now that you have an original outline, it doesn’t matter how basic it looks; you can use ChatGPT to create another outline. Craft a prompt with this template:

ChatGPT’s result is far more detailed than our outline. Here, you should adopt the parts of ChatGPT’s outline you would like to integrate into your own. Combine the best of the two and flesh out an outline that will guide you best as you write.

3. Create a ChatGPT Prompt for Each Section

Now that you have an outline with sections, you can begin to hack away at it section by section. Start with your introduction, where you will include your thesis statement. Ask ChatGPT to create multiple thesis statements on your idea, and choose the one that best encapsulates the major point you’re trying to communicate in your essay.

You can do something similar for all the other sections as well. Tell the AI to generate written pieces on your section topics. Don’t forget to add that it communicates the point in the tone you want. In most cases, essays should sound academic. Therefore, our prompt for each section looked like this:

Do not just copy and paste the information it generates; the next step is a vital second part of this methodology.

4. Confirm the Information With a Reputable Source

As you begin to write, you must check if the information you’re getting from ChatGPT is indeed correct. You must do this because ChatGPT occasionally hallucinates , coming up with its own facts and making up sources when you ask it to direct you to where it got its information. In some cases, it blatantly refuses to tell you at all where it got its data.

The free version of ChatGPT is not actively connected to the internet and cannot fetch information after September 2021. If you need this functionality, then it could be time to upgrade to ChatGPT Plus —especially if this is a tool you will be using heavily for work or school.

The bottom line is that you should use a reputable source (such as a book from an authority or an official website) to support every important statement you put down. You can also learn how to use Google to fact-check information .

5. Use ChatGPT for Examples and Breakdowns

It’s counterproductive to write about ideas that you don’t even understand yourself. When you reach a part of your essay that you don’t properly understand, you should go to ChatGPT and have it broken down for you.

That’s really the one thing you can count on ChatGPT to do in this process. It has good skill in crafting useful examples and explaining complicated ideas in a form you can easily understand. A popular way of phrasing a prompt to make ChatGPT explain something complicated is adding “explain like I’m five” to your prompt.

Here we used ChatGPT to break down hip and elbow dysplasia conditions in a way that is easier to understand. And it used analogies like jigsaw puzzles to paint a clearer image of what it might look like.

6. Write the Essay Yourself

As we’ve stated earlier, under no condition should you ask ChatGPT to write your whole essay for you. Not only is that lazy and deceitful, but it could also open you up to plagiarism and submitting incorrect information.

Ensure that every line in your essay is typed with your hands. Besides, if you’re writing an academic essay where you must cite sources, you will still need to corroborate all the points you’ve made with a corresponding authority. That means you’ll have to go and fact-check everything ChatGPT has written and find a corroborating source.

This could even take more time than just writing it yourself because the AI could have hallucinated some of its facts, leading you on a wild goose chase as you try to find a citation for something that doesn’t exist.

Lastly, ChatGPT doesn’t match the nuanced knowledge of a human professional in heavily specialized fields or journals that need up-to-date information. Reading a book or article by an expert, internalizing it, and writing it in your own words will give you far better results than relying on ChatGPT.

7. Polish the Style and Citation With ChatGPT

After writing, you can paste portions of your essay and ask ChatGPT to shorten, lengthen, or optimize the style. ChatGPT is good at mimicking popular styles, and you can use that to your advantage. If you want your writing to sound a little more professional, it can help rephrase it.

If you’re having trouble with citation styles and how to integrate them into your essay, you can present your essay to ChatGPT, give it your sources, and ask it to weld them together for you.

ChatGPT Is a Tool, Not a Solution

You can’t “ChatGPT” away academic or professional work; you must use it the same way you would use a tool. Take a calculator, for instance; it doesn’t replace the mathematician but improves the mathematician. You should use ChatGPT the same way a mathematician will use a calculator: for the boring, repetitive, rote work.

Let the ideas and story come from you and your experiences. And if you want to keep using ChatGPT as a student, make sure you know what you shouldn't do.

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Should I Use ChatGPT to Write My Essays?

Everything high school and college students need to know about using — and not using — ChatGPT for writing essays.

Jessica A. Kent

ChatGPT is one of the most buzzworthy technologies today.

In addition to other generative artificial intelligence (AI) models, it is expected to change the world. In academia, students and professors are preparing for the ways that ChatGPT will shape education, and especially how it will impact a fundamental element of any course: the academic essay.

Students can use ChatGPT to generate full essays based on a few simple prompts. But can AI actually produce high quality work, or is the technology just not there yet to deliver on its promise? Students may also be asking themselves if they should use AI to write their essays for them and what they might be losing out on if they did.

AI is here to stay, and it can either be a help or a hindrance depending on how you use it. Read on to become better informed about what ChatGPT can and can’t do, how to use it responsibly to support your academic assignments, and the benefits of writing your own essays.

What is Generative AI?

Artificial intelligence isn’t a twenty-first century invention. Beginning in the 1950s, data scientists started programming computers to solve problems and understand spoken language. AI’s capabilities grew as computer speeds increased and today we use AI for data analysis, finding patterns, and providing insights on the data it collects.

But why the sudden popularity in recent applications like ChatGPT? This new generation of AI goes further than just data analysis. Instead, generative AI creates new content. It does this by analyzing large amounts of data — GPT-3 was trained on 45 terabytes of data, or a quarter of the Library of Congress — and then generating new content based on the patterns it sees in the original data.

It’s like the predictive text feature on your phone; as you start typing a new message, predictive text makes suggestions of what should come next based on data from past conversations. Similarly, ChatGPT creates new text based on past data. With the right prompts, ChatGPT can write marketing content, code, business forecasts, and even entire academic essays on any subject within seconds.

But is generative AI as revolutionary as people think it is, or is it lacking in real intelligence?

The Drawbacks of Generative AI

It seems simple. You’ve been assigned an essay to write for class. You go to ChatGPT and ask it to write a five-paragraph academic essay on the topic you’ve been assigned. You wait a few seconds and it generates the essay for you!

But ChatGPT is still in its early stages of development, and that essay is likely not as accurate or well-written as you’d expect it to be. Be aware of the drawbacks of having ChatGPT complete your assignments.

It’s not intelligence, it’s statistics

One of the misconceptions about AI is that it has a degree of human intelligence. However, its intelligence is actually statistical analysis, as it can only generate “original” content based on the patterns it sees in already existing data and work.

It “hallucinates”

Generative AI models often provide false information — so much so that there’s a term for it: “AI hallucination.” OpenAI even has a warning on its home screen , saying that “ChatGPT may produce inaccurate information about people, places, or facts.” This may be due to gaps in its data, or because it lacks the ability to verify what it’s generating. 

It doesn’t do research  

If you ask ChatGPT to find and cite sources for you, it will do so, but they could be inaccurate or even made up.

This is because AI doesn’t know how to look for relevant research that can be applied to your thesis. Instead, it generates content based on past content, so if a number of papers cite certain sources, it will generate new content that sounds like it’s a credible source — except it likely may not be.

There are data privacy concerns

When you input your data into a public generative AI model like ChatGPT, where does that data go and who has access to it? 

Prompting ChatGPT with original research should be a cause for concern — especially if you’re inputting study participants’ personal information into the third-party, public application. 

JPMorgan has restricted use of ChatGPT due to privacy concerns, Italy temporarily blocked ChatGPT in March 2023 after a data breach, and Security Intelligence advises that “if [a user’s] notes include sensitive data … it enters the chatbot library. The user no longer has control over the information.”

It is important to be aware of these issues and take steps to ensure that you’re using the technology responsibly and ethically. 

It skirts the plagiarism issue

AI creates content by drawing on a large library of information that’s already been created, but is it plagiarizing? Could there be instances where ChatGPT “borrows” from previous work and places it into your work without citing it? Schools and universities today are wrestling with this question of what’s plagiarism and what’s not when it comes to AI-generated work.

To demonstrate this, one Elon University professor gave his class an assignment: Ask ChatGPT to write an essay for you, and then grade it yourself. 

“Many students expressed shock and dismay upon learning the AI could fabricate bogus information,” he writes, adding that he expected some essays to contain errors, but all of them did. 

His students were disappointed that “major tech companies had pushed out AI technology without ensuring that the general population understands its drawbacks” and were concerned about how many embraced such a flawed tool.

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How to Use AI as a Tool to Support Your Work

As more students are discovering, generative AI models like ChatGPT just aren’t as advanced or intelligent as they may believe. While AI may be a poor option for writing your essay, it can be a great tool to support your work.

Generate ideas for essays

Have ChatGPT help you come up with ideas for essays. For example, input specific prompts, such as, “Please give me five ideas for essays I can write on topics related to WWII,” or “Please give me five ideas for essays I can write comparing characters in twentieth century novels.” Then, use what it provides as a starting point for your original research.

Generate outlines

You can also use ChatGPT to help you create an outline for an essay. Ask it, “Can you create an outline for a five paragraph essay based on the following topic” and it will create an outline with an introduction, body paragraphs, conclusion, and a suggested thesis statement. Then, you can expand upon the outline with your own research and original thought.

Generate titles for your essays

Titles should draw a reader into your essay, yet they’re often hard to get right. Have ChatGPT help you by prompting it with, “Can you suggest five titles that would be good for a college essay about [topic]?”

The Benefits of Writing Your Essays Yourself

Asking a robot to write your essays for you may seem like an easy way to get ahead in your studies or save some time on assignments. But, outsourcing your work to ChatGPT can negatively impact not just your grades, but your ability to communicate and think critically as well. It’s always the best approach to write your essays yourself.

Create your own ideas

Writing an essay yourself means that you’re developing your own thoughts, opinions, and questions about the subject matter, then testing, proving, and defending those thoughts. 

When you complete school and start your career, projects aren’t simply about getting a good grade or checking a box, but can instead affect the company you’re working for — or even impact society. Being able to think for yourself is necessary to create change and not just cross work off your to-do list.

Building a foundation of original thinking and ideas now will help you carve your unique career path in the future.

Develop your critical thinking and analysis skills

In order to test or examine your opinions or questions about a subject matter, you need to analyze a problem or text, and then use your critical thinking skills to determine the argument you want to make to support your thesis. Critical thinking and analysis skills aren’t just necessary in school — they’re skills you’ll apply throughout your career and your life.

Improve your research skills

Writing your own essays will train you in how to conduct research, including where to find sources, how to determine if they’re credible, and their relevance in supporting or refuting your argument. Knowing how to do research is another key skill required throughout a wide variety of professional fields.

Learn to be a great communicator

Writing an essay involves communicating an idea clearly to your audience, structuring an argument that a reader can follow, and making a conclusion that challenges them to think differently about a subject. Effective and clear communication is necessary in every industry.

Be impacted by what you’re learning about : 

Engaging with the topic, conducting your own research, and developing original arguments allows you to really learn about a subject you may not have encountered before. Maybe a simple essay assignment around a work of literature, historical time period, or scientific study will spark a passion that can lead you to a new major or career.

Resources to Improve Your Essay Writing Skills

While there are many rewards to writing your essays yourself, the act of writing an essay can still be challenging, and the process may come easier for some students than others. But essay writing is a skill that you can hone, and students at Harvard Summer School have access to a number of on-campus and online resources to assist them.

Students can start with the Harvard Summer School Writing Center , where writing tutors can offer you help and guidance on any writing assignment in one-on-one meetings. Tutors can help you strengthen your argument, clarify your ideas, improve the essay’s structure, and lead you through revisions. 

The Harvard libraries are a great place to conduct your research, and its librarians can help you define your essay topic, plan and execute a research strategy, and locate sources. 

Finally, review the “ The Harvard Guide to Using Sources ,” which can guide you on what to cite in your essay and how to do it. Be sure to review the “Tips For Avoiding Plagiarism” on the “ Resources to Support Academic Integrity ” webpage as well to help ensure your success.

Sign up to our mailing list to learn more about Harvard Summer School

The Future of AI in the Classroom

ChatGPT and other generative AI models are here to stay, so it’s worthwhile to learn how you can leverage the technology responsibly and wisely so that it can be a tool to support your academic pursuits. However, nothing can replace the experience and achievement gained from communicating your own ideas and research in your own academic essays.

About the Author

Jessica A. Kent is a freelance writer based in Boston, Mass. and a Harvard Extension School alum. Her digital marketing content has been featured on Fast Company, Forbes, Nasdaq, and other industry websites; her essays and short stories have been featured in North American Review, Emerson Review, Writer’s Bone, and others.

5 Key Qualities of Students Who Succeed at Harvard Summer School (and in College!)

This guide outlines the kinds of students who thrive at Harvard Summer School and what the programs offer in return.

Harvard Division of Continuing Education

The Division of Continuing Education (DCE) at Harvard University is dedicated to bringing rigorous academics and innovative teaching capabilities to those seeking to improve their lives through education. We make Harvard education accessible to lifelong learners from high school to retirement.

How-To Geek

How to make chatgpt copy your writing style.

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall

Quick Links

How to check if chatgpt knows who you are (for published writers), using text samples to teach chatgpt your style, using generic tone prompts to describe your style, limitations and points of caution, key takeaways.

Published writers can ask ChatGPT to emulate their style by referencing existing work; anyone can submit samples of their own writing for emulation, or you can simply describe a style using plain language.

ChatGPT can generate excellent text on virtually any subject , but by default, it has a very bland (and obvious) tone. Instead of editing that text into your own style to use it, you can simply teach ChatGPT your style instead.

If you have published anything on the internet before ChatGPT's knowledge cutoff date (September 2021) there's a decent chance it knows about you and, by extension, your writing style. If that's the case it makes your life much easier since you can simply ask it to write anything in your style by name.

First we have to figure out if it does know about you and your writing, so in this case we've used the prompt:

Do you know Sydney Butler, writer for HowToGeek and several other technology publications? Do you know his writing style, and can you mimic it?

That's a good start if a somewhat noncommittal response! Of course, ChatGPT is right, it can't necessarily create an exact copy of that writing style, but since we are the author we're trying to emulate that's a non-issue because you can simply fix any inconsistencies.

Related: ChatGPT: How to Use the AI Chatbot for Free

However, just because ChatGPT says it knows you and can try to emulate your style doesn't mean it's true! That's a running theme with ChatGPT we'll discuss below, but in this case, the only way to tell is to ask it to write something and then judge for yourself. So we prompt it with:

Please write a brief history of virtual reality in the style of Sydney Butler, Writer for HowToGeek.

It's up to you to judge how well ChatGPT is doing in your case. Note as well that you can specify which writing by the author you want to emulate. So if you've written different types of content for different publications, you can modify the emulated style by adding that information to the prompt.

Suppose you don't have anything published or that for some reason ChatGPT doesn't know who you are, what then? In this case, you can provide a sample of your own writing (such as a previous essay) and ask ChatGPT to copy the style.

In this case, we're using sample text from one of this author's most popular articles: It's Time to Stop Using Desktop Icons .

First, we prompt ChatGPT to expect the text you want it to copy.

I want you to look at some sample text, and then copy the writing style according to my requests. Are you ready for the text sample?

Then after we get an affirmative response, we use this prompt and include the sample text after the colon.

Here is the sample:

We get another affirmative from ChatGPT.

Then follow up with the prompt to start writing, which in this example is:

Please write a guide on why people no longer need screen protectors for their phones using the sample style.

As with the previous example, you'll have to judge how successful ChatGPT is for yourself.

You don't need to use elaborate prompts such as the ones in this example, we've written them to be human-friendly, but you can condense these steps and leave out words like "please."

Related: How to Tell If an Article Was Written by ChatGPT

If you're not bothered by aiming for an exact replication of your style, or the above methods don't work for you, the next best solution is to simply give a description of the style you want as part of the prompt.

In many cases, you may be writing in a prescribed style for a specific publication, so you can also feed the style guide you've been given into ChatGPT, the same as you've provided sample text from your own writing. ChatGPT 3.5 can handle up to 3000 words, and ChatGPT 4 can handle up to 25,000 words. You can also ask it to condense the style guide into a more compressed form, and then use that as a future prompt.

To manually specify a style, be as descriptive as possible. For example, here's a prompt with manual tone description:

Please write "Will ChatGPT replace all writers" using a friendly second-person tone. Be empathetic, optimistic yet realistic, and add some dry humor to break the tension.

That was using ChatGPT 3.5, but here's the same prompt, but with a ChatGPT 4 upgrade:

The more complex model obviously has a better time adding the more subtle parts of the requests into the text output.

Keep in mind that you can tweak the output on the fly. For example, you ask something like, "Try that again, but use more active voice and less humor," or anything you like, really.

Related: ChatGPT Network Error: 7 Fixes to Try

Before you go off and generate books worth of text in your own style, there are a few important things to keep in mind:

• ChatGPT is prone to making logical and factual errors . This means you must verify every statement it makes. One approach you can take is feeding ChatGPT's output into Bing AI chat to check for accuracy and find sources.
• Asking ChatGPT to mimic your style will save you time, but you'll still have to edit the text to get it exactly right.
• You are responsible for any text published under your own name. ChatGPT is a great writing tool and assistant if you use it correctly, but it isn't a fire-and-forget proxy for your own writing. Instead, it's an opportunity to speed up your workflow and elevate the quality of your writing.
• If you find a prompt or prompts that really work for you, remember to save them somewhere other than ChatGPT.

While ChatGPT is the most advanced and popular AI writing tool available to the public right now, similar tools will soon be integrated into applications such as Microsoft Word or Google Drive. We expect that for anyone serious writer, being conversant with AI tools such as ChatGPT will eventually be a required skill. So it's better to get ahead of the curve!

If you're using ChatGPT to hone your writing skills, you may also want to learn how to differentiate your writing from synthetic, AI-generated content with some specific changes and additions. With some help from plugins, you can also set up ChatGPT as a customized personal assistant .

Related: 8 Surprising Things You Can Do With ChatGPT

'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean?

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When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may earn affiliate commissions. This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay. Neither ZDNET nor the author are compensated for these independent reviews. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers.

ZDNET's editorial team writes on behalf of you, our reader. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and services. Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form .

How to use ChatGPT

OpenAI unleashed an  artificial intelligence  (AI) revolution when the company rolled out  ChatGPT  for public use in late 2022. Since then, ChatGPT, a chatbot powered by OpenAI's large language models (LLMs), has dominated headlines and preoccupied the minds of executives running  Twitter ,  Google ,  Amazon , Microsoft , and  Meta , inspiring them to create their own generative AI projects.

After launching in November 2022, ChatGPT had gained 100 million users by January 2023, becoming  the fastest-growing 'app' of all time , surpassing  TikTok -- until Threads dethroned it in July 2023 . 

Also: 5 ways AI can help you study for finals - for free

ChatGPT is so popular and high-performing that some have wondered whether the chatbot could replace   programmers ,  writers , and doctors . Others have considered how ChatGPT could  revolutionize different industries .

1. Go to chat.openai.com

Start by going to  chat.openai.com . You don't need to create an account on OpenAI's website to log in and access ChatGPT anymore , but you can create a free account if you want to access past conversations with the free tier of ChatGPT or if you want to use ChatGPT Plus.

Also: How does ChatGPT work?

To create an account, click "Sign up" on the bottom left of the chat screen and follow the prompts to enter your information. OpenAI requires a valid phone number for verification to create an account on its website.

2. Learn how to use ChatGPT

Once you open ChatGPT, learn how to navigate the user interface. Here's a breakdown of what you will see, with the image below as an example:

Chat and hide sidebar buttons: On the left-hand side of your screen, there's a "New chat" button that you can click on to start a fresh conversation at any time. ChatGPT remembers what you discussed previously in a conversation and will respond with context. Starting a new chat creates a new discussion without context.

Chat history: The left sidebar keeps all your previous conversations accessible in case you need to go back to one (you can edit the title of each chat). You can also  share your chat history with others ,  turn off chat history , delete individual chats, or delete your entire chat history.

Account (if logged in): Clicking on your name on the bottom left of your screen gives you access to your account information, including settings, the option to log out, get help, and access FAQs from OpenAI. If you don't have ChatGPT Plus , you may see an Upgrade button here to sign up for it.

ChatGPT dropdown menu: You can choose which LLM you'd like to use near the top of the screen, above your conversation, but you must log in with a paid ChatGPT Plus account to access GPT-4.

Your prompts: The questions or prompts you send the AI chatbot appear in the middle of the chat window, with your account photo or initials to the left.

ChatGPT's responses: Whenever ChatGPT responds to your queries, the logo will appear on the left. The Copy, Thumbs Up, and Thumbs Down buttons appear to the right of each response. You can copy the text to your clipboard to paste it elsewhere and provide feedback on whether the response was accurate. OpenAI uses this human feedback process to fine-tune the AI tool through reinforcement learning.

Regenerate response: If you have issues getting a response in the chat or don't get a satisfactory answer, click "Regenerate response" to prompt ChatGPT to try again with a new reply for the latest prompt.

Text area:  This is where you enter your prompts and questions.

ChatGPT disclaimer: OpenAI includes some fine print below the text input area. The disclaimer reads: "ChatGPT can make mistakes. Consider checking important information." OpenAI includes this disclaimer because chatbots like ChatGPT can hallucinate and give nonsensical answers (always make sure to fact-check their responses). In the past, this section showed the version of the ChatGPT model currently in use, but OpenAI disabled this.

Also: The ethics of generative AI: How we can harness this powerful technology

You can create an account by clicking on "Sign up." If you don't want an account, you can use ChatGPT straightaway.

3. Start writing your prompts and questions

Now that you know how to access ChatGPT, you can ask the chatbot any burning questions you have and see what answers you get -- the possibilities are endless. ChatGPT is a tool that can be useful in your personal life and many work projects, from software development to writing to translations.

Also: AI business is booming: ChatGPT Enterprise now boasts 600,000+ users

Type a  ChatGPT prompt  in the text bar at the bottom of the page, and click the submit button to pose your questions. The chatbot will then generate text as an answer to your query.

ChatGPT doesn't work like a search engine. Instead, the chatbot responds with information based on the training data in GPT-3.5 or GPT-4. The free version of ChatGPT uses GPT-3.5 and is trained on information leading up to January 2022. GPT-4, accessible through a paid ChatGPT Plus subscription, can access the internet and respond with more up-to-date information.

When you send ChatGPT a message, it'll reply within a few seconds. 

ZDNET's ChatGPT guides

ChatGPT users have come up with creative ideas for using the chatbot, from  asking questions in search of funny answers  to  correcting a bug in code . Across all these areas, one thing is abundantly clear: this AI tool is remarkable not due to any particular innovations  but rather because it's accessible and easy to use. 

Here are some of ZDNET's guides on different ways to use ChatGPT:

How to use ChatGPT for coding

• How to use ChatGPT to write code
• How ChatGPT can rewrite and improve your existing code  
• How to use ChatGPT to create an app
• How I used ChatGPT to write a custom JavaScript bookmarklet
• I used ChatGPT to write the same routine in 12 top programming languages. Here's how it did
• Okay, so ChatGPT just debugged my code. For real
• I'm using ChatGPT to help me fix code faster, but at what cost?
• I asked ChatGPT to write a WordPress plugin I needed. It did it in less than 5 minutes    

How to use ChatGPT for work

• How to use ChatGPT to make charts and tables
• How to use ChatGPT to write Excel formulas
• ChatGPT Plus can mine your corporate data for powerful insights. Here's how
• How to use ChatGPT to build your resume
• How to use ChatGPT to write a cover letter (and why you should)
• How I used ChatGPT and AI art tools to launch my Etsy business fast

How to use ChatGPT for school

• Need an AI essay writer? Here's how ChatGPT (and other chatbots) can help
• How to use ChatGPT to do research for papers, presentations, studies, and more
• How to make ChatGPT provide sources and citations
• How to save a ChatGPT conversation to revisit later
• How to use ChatGPT to summarize a book, article, or research paper
• How your kids can use ChatGPT safely, according to a mom

Useful ChatGPT tips

• Here's how to create your own custom chatbots using ChatGPT
• How to use ChatGPT Plus
• You can have voice chats with ChatGPT now. Here's how
• ChatGPT now lets you create and share links to your chatbot conversations
• How to write better ChatGPT prompts for the best generative AI results
• How (and why) to subscribe to ChatGPT Plus
• Can AI detectors save us from ChatGPT? I tried 5 online tools to find out
• How to use ChatGPT to plan a vacation
• 6 helpful ways to use ChatGPT's Custom Instructions
• Six skills you need to become an AI prompt engineer
• 7 advanced ChatGPT prompt-writing tips you need to know
• How to block OpenAI's new AI-training web crawler from ingesting your data
• How to use ChatGPT as a Siri shortcut on your iPhone or iPad

What are some good prompts for ChatGPT?

ChatGPT's responses to prompts are good enough that the technology can be an essential tool for content generation, from  writing essays  to  summarizing a book  for you.

The  better the prompt , the better the response you'll get. Here are examples of prompts you could start with:

• How does a computer store and process information?
• Analyze this code and tell me how to fix it: [Paste the code].
• Write a poem about migraines in Walt Whitman's style.
• What is the difference between a virus and a bacterium?
• Write a sick note for my child who has to miss school.
• Write a song/poem about [insert topic here] (try adding multiple details). 
• Give it a list of ingredients from your pantry and ask it to write a recipe with them.
• Ask it to summarize ideas or concepts.
• Request a packing list for a three-day trip to the beach.

Your imagination is the limit. Have fun with different ChatGPT prompts. For example, ZDNET's David Gewirtz asked the AI chatbot to  write a WordPress plugin  and used it to  help him fix code faster . He also requested ChatGPT to  write a Star Trek script  and  started a business  using the technology and other AI tools.

Also:  4 ways generative AI can stimulate the creator economy

Others have used the tool to  write malware . ChatGPT is an AI assistant programmed to reject inappropriate requests and doesn't generate unsafe content, so it may push back if you give it certain potentially unethical requests.

Can I use ChatGPT without a login?

OpenAI now allows users to access the free version of ChatGPT, powered by GPT-3.5, without logging in, though you must create an account to access your chat history. To access GPT-4, you need an account and a ChatGPT Plus subscription.

Also: ChatGPT vs. Microsoft Copilot vs. Gemini: Which is the best AI chatbot?

If you'd rather access GPT-4 for free and without logging in to a website, you can use Microsoft Copilot, formerly known as Bing Chat , which uses OpenAI's GPT-4, a larger and newer model than the one used in the ChatGPT free tier. You can log in with a Microsoft account for extended conversations.

What is ChatGPT Plus?

ChatGPT Plus is OpenAI's paid subscription to ChatGPT that offers access to GPT-4 with web browsing, data analysis, and image creation capabilities. A paid subscription also gives you priority access to new features and lets you use the AI chatbot during peak times.

Also: Why the future must be BYO AI: Model lock-in deters users and stifles innovation

ChatGPT Plus also allows users to access GPTs, which are customized GPT bots created on specialized data for specific subjects, like travel, cooking, and coding.

Is ChatGPT accurate?

ChatGPT and other AI assistants are prone to misinformation because they're trained on massive amounts of data that humans created. These tools can be biased if the data they use is flawed and can give inaccurate responses, especially regarding world events.

You should challenge any incorrect premises and always fact-check information from ChatGPT and other chatbots.

Can I use ChatGPT on my phone?

OpenAI offers mobile apps for iOS and Android. These apps offer a richer ChatGPT experience, letting you talk with ChatGPT through voice conversations powered by OpenAI's Whisper without requiring a ChatGPT Plus subscription.

Also:  These are my 4 favorite AI chatbot apps for Android

If you don't want to download an app, you can use the AI-based tool in your mobile browser. The steps to use OpenAI's ChatGPT from your mobile browser are the same as on a PC: go to chat.openai.com and start typing. The AI chatbot should work the same way as when you access it from your computer.

How I test an AI chatbot's coding ability - and you can too

How to use chatgpt to write code: what it can and can't do for you, the best ai chatbots: chatgpt isn't the only one worth trying.

Your 'friendly AI assistant' has arrived to your search bar. Here's how chatbots work

From social media to search engines, AI chatbot integration has arrived.

Recently users of Meta's suite of apps, including Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp, have likely noticed the presence of an artificially intelligent chatbot designed to engage users in useful conversation.

A self-proclaimed "friendly AI assistant with a passion for helping others," Meta AI is among dozens of chatbots that have surfaced since OpenAI's ChatGPT launched in late 2022 and disrupted the tech landscape.

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Others include Anthropic's Claude, Microsoft's Copilot and Bing AI, Amazon's Q, xAI's Grok and Google's Gemini.

"Meta AI has the potential to revolutionize the way we interact with technology and access information," the chatbot claims with an alleged quote from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg that comes with no attribution or corroborating sources. Due to the novelty of the technology, accuracy in responses may vary, according to Meta.

Meta AI invites users to ask it anything. Unless users mute it by diving into the settings , Meta AI has no trouble generating a response.

Meta AI and other modern AI chatbots are at their core interfaces to large language models, systems trained by massive datasets of text covering a wide range of topics that recognize word usage patterns and predict text based on context, said Vivek Singh, the director of the Behavioral Informatics Lab at Rutgers University. 

What is a chatbot?

Chatbots, or digital interfaces that talk to people, have been around for years, but things have changed with the integration of large language models that have allowed them to develop a knowledge of intricate word relationships. Chatbots appear conversational. They excel in creating natural-sounding text and can easily refine existing text or create quiz questions based on excerpts.

Some, such as Microsoft Copilot, aim for versatility and can offer up-to-date information on current events that link back to sources. It can also write, summarize, translate and converse. Others are more nuanced. New Jersey-based ZeroBot's AI is a voice-enabled chatbot linked to Grok that offers custom avatars, called "agents," to deliver information. Others still were tailored for research, coding or web searches. 

They all, however, lack human-like comprehension of language, said Jonathan Howell, a professor in the linguistics department at Montclair State University.

Instead, they continuously refine their understanding of language to enhance their ability to accurately predict the proper response, according to experts. They are good at repeating what we said and can guess what a reply might be, Howell said. When prompted, they perform what is essentially an "autocomplete" function on steroids, Singh added.

"It gives you the illusion as if it knows things," Singh said. "It's actually trying to make its best guess out of what it has seen in the past."

How does AI work?

The result is systems that can help with repetitive and boring text-based tasks, such as filling out forms, Singh said. Since chatbots draw from a ton of data and are not constrained by reality, they are also good for brainstorming, according to experts. However, they are not exactly ideal for producing external-facing documents, Howell said. Give chatbot responses a double check, if not a sanity check, Singh added.

More: Friday's earthquake was the strongest in NJ since 1783. A look back at quake history

"You always want to be critical," Howell said. "When it's really important, you don't want to end your search for information with the chatbot."

Flaws in artificial intelligence

Modern AI chatbots struggle with numerical tasks, forward planning and discerning factual accuracy, particularly in current events, according to experts. They can consequently produce inaccurate or fabricated content, making up an answer rather than conceding a lack of knowledge in what experts call "hallucinations," Singh said.

Chatbots come with several other key flaws. They can replicate or amplify problems included in their data sets, display inequity across languages and misuse copyrighted content, according to Singh, Howell and other experts.

So far, the flaws in chatbots have left many in New Jersey skeptical. A recent poll conducted by Stockton University found most of the state's residents (79%) express low levels of trust regarding the ethical and responsible use of AI. A similar percentage, 78%, said they believe that AI will exacerbate the spread of false information

While Microsoft's offerings make use of OpenAI's GPT-4 large language model, many others use a proprietary system. Meta AI, for example, is called LLaMA 3, which gathers information from a wide variety of sources. Most tap into publicly available internet resources. Google recently inked a $60 million deal to use Reddit posts to help inform its Gemini system.

AI and copyrighted content

Along those lines, the Associated Press has licensed part of its archives to OpenAI. However, often information is scraped from sites without consent from content creators.

A slew of U.S. newspaper publishers have claimed in recent court filings that tech giants Microsoft and OpenAI are reusing their articles without permission and attributing inaccurate information to them through AI-generated content.

The lawsuit follows The New York Times' earlier legal action against OpenAI for allegedly using its archives without authorization.

More: North Jersey home built by founder of Time and Life magazines listed for $5.8 million

While what is posted on the internet may help AI chatbots improve their functionality, officials at the Mozilla Foundation warn against giving chatbots too much information. The nonprofit behind the Firefox browser released a list of tips to safeguard against chatbots with privacy policies that allow them to collect and disseminate user data.

Chatbot users are urged not to give sensitive information or access to photos, videos, cameras or microphones. Users should refuse ad tracking, choose strong passwords and request the deletion of all data once they stop using an app.

AI Chatbots in their own words:

Chatgpt: openai - gpt-3.5 (gpt-4 available).

"I'm an AI language model created by OpenAI called GPT-3.5, designed to understand and generate human-like text based on the input I receive. My purpose is to assist users like you by providing information, answering questions, generating content, and engaging in conversation on a wide range of topics. I've been trained on a diverse dataset covering various domains, so I can discuss everything from science and technology to literature and philosophy. If you have any specific questions or topics you'd like to explore, feel free to ask!"

Claude: Anthropic - Claude 3

"I am an AI assistant created by Anthropic. I have a broad knowledge base that was current as of August 2023, which allows me to converse on a wide range of topics and assist with things like writing, analysis, math, coding, and more. However, my knowledge does not extend past August 2023, so for events after that date I can only speculate based on the information I have. I'm an artificial intelligence without a physical form, but I strive to be helpful, honest, and ethical in my interactions."

Copilot: Microsoft - Microsoft Prometheus, GPT-4

"I am an AI language model developed by OpenAI, and my primary purpose is to assist users like you by providing information, answering questions, and engaging in conversation. You can think of me as a friendly digital companion here to help with various tasks and discussions. While I don’t have personal experiences or emotions, I rely on my training data and algorithms to generate responses. If there’s anything specific you’d like to know or discuss, feel free to ask, and I’ll do my best to assist you!"

Gemini: Google - Gemini (language model)

"I am Gemini, a large language model created by Google AI. I am similar to Google Assistant, but I am still under development and focused on providing informative responses. I can access and process information from the real world through Google Search and keep my response consistent with search results. Unlike Assistant, I cannot directly control smart home devices or perform actions in the real world. However, I can answer your questions in a comprehensive and informative way, even if they are open ended, challenging, or strange."

Meta: AI Meta - LLaMA 3

"I am Meta AI, a friendly AI assistant. I'm here to help you with any questions or tasks you have. I can:-Answer questions on a wide range of topics, from science and history to entertainment and culture-Generate text on a given topic or subject-Translate text from one language to another-Summarize long pieces of text into shorter, digestible versions-Offer suggestions and ideas for brainstorming sessions-Chat and converse on a variety of topicsI'm constantly learning and improving, so please bear with me if I make any mistakes. I'm here to assist you, and I'm happy to help in any way I can!"

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Your 'friendly AI assistant' has arrived to your search bar. Here's how chatbots work

NEWS... BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT

‘I didn’t feel like doing it’: The students farming out schoolwork to ChatGPT

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When 16-year-old student Fiore realised an English essay was due the next day, his first thought wasn’t to open a book and cram the assignment into an all-nighter. 

After all, it’s 2024.

Instead, he got ChatGPT to save his bacon by writing the entire essay for him within seconds. All he had to do was input the assignment criteria, the required number of paragraphs and formatting information before letting the AI chatbot do the rest. 

Describing this process as ‘incredibly easy’, Fiore has since submitted at least five essays this way and, he tells Metro.co.uk, has no regrets. 

‘I started using ChatGPT because it’s much easier than actually doing work and my grade was already suffering,’ admits the teen. ‘Most of the time the essays are just English assignments that I simply don’t feel like doing, or based off reading material I don’t want to read.’

While ChatGPT generates ‘pretty convincing’ essays, Fiore always proofreads them and occasionally edits a few words so that they sound ‘more organic’. And whatever he’s doing works, he adds, as they’re bringing in better grades, too. 

No regrets 

Although many people would fear plagiarism detectors or eagle-eyed lecturers spotting AI-generated essays , Fiore isn’t afraid of getting caught.

In fact, he doesn’t believe that his teachers ‘will go through the effort of checking’ essays for ChatGPT-generated content , saying that his school ‘doesn’t explicitly say anything against AI use’.

And while his parents don’t know he uses ChatGPT for his schoolwork, he doesn’t think they would ‘necessarily care’. 

‘I will absolutely be using ChatGPT for assignments to come, English or not,’ the student says adamantly. 

It’s a move Chris Carron, CEO of plagiarism detection software company Turnitin, warns against, however. He says that using AI to ‘outsource their homework and essays’, can affect students’ ability to ‘learn or build critical thinking and communication skills’ that will be needed beyond school.

‘This new shortcut may be tempting in a pinch, but it will set them up for failure in the workplace,’ he tells Metro.co.uk.

However, it could be a little too late. After analysing 200 million essays, Turnitin found that more than one in ten comprised at least 20% AI-generated text. Six million had at least 80% AI content.

Legitimate use

Not all students are using AI to cheat, though – and not are all using ChatGPT, with a range of similar models available including Google’s Gemini . Many view this technology as a tool to assist their studies and enhance their learning.

23-year-old Elizabeth, who is pursuing a master’s degree in journalism, regularly uses ChatGPT in her works. She says the chatbot helps her better understand complex academic reading materials by simplifying hard-to-understand text.

She has also found uses for it in essay writing, inputting paragraphs and asking the AI tool to rephrase her writing to make it ‘more succinct’ – something some may consider cheating, or at least questionable.  

The software also helps her find sources when researching essays, adds Elizabeth. 

‘ I started using it a few months after it came into popular use,’ she tells Metro.co.uk. ‘I was definitely worried about things like plagiarism at first, but mostly when I was talking about it with other people. 

I would say I felt conflicted but only before I’d actually seen for myself the ways it would be useful and what its limitations would be.’ 

Since then, the student has learned how to use the tool responsibly, which her lecturers even discussed in talks.

Elizabeth says the use of AI among her peers is ‘pretty common now’. She’s heard stories of people getting in trouble for misusing the technology and says there’s a sense of shame surrounding such uses.

But she believes there is a fine line between using ChatGPT to inspire essay writing and using it ‘as a substitute for studying or as a shortcut in essay writing’.

Elizabeth continues: ‘I never copy and paste their output, but it gives me a blueprint to go off of to write more clearly.

‘As a student, it helps to have something that can break down very abstract concepts.’

Supporting disabled students

Maya Seth, a 22-year-old public relations executive, was diagnosed with dyslexia when she was 11 and, because of her condition, found it hard to keep pace with reading materials during her design degree.

While Maya received one-to-one support from her university, she also used ChatGPT to comprehend in-depth academic text. 

Asking ChatGPT to summarise academic articles enabled her to determine the ‘key points’, she explains. This helped her save time as she could ‘quickly work out if an article was worth reading’ in the first place. 

‘Studying a creative subject, AI was also a great way to get over creative blocks by using it as a way to make my blank page less blank,’ she says.

‘I didn’t use anything the AI produced, but it was a good thought-provoking starting point.’

But as this technology isn’t always accurate, Maya says it’s important to ‘read the whole article, not just the AI summary’.

She advises: ‘Students can use the tools ethically by being transparent about their AI use and ensuring against misinformation through fact checking with credible sources.’

Since leaving university in 2023, Maya is now exploring ways it can help her in the workplace as part of an AI working group at her company. She adds: ‘I think ChatGPT is a great tool that we all need to work out how to use ethically.’

It’s not just students

Educators can also find uses for AI tools. Last year, education secretary Gillian Keegan said the tech could do the ‘heavy lifting’ for teachers by marking students’ homework and planning lessons.

They are already using AI software for creating annual school reports with the click of a button, and one school has even appointed an AI headteacher

Minty Pester, an art and media lecturer at a Welsh college, says artificial intelligence is allowing him to ‘speed up admin tasks’ and ‘plan units of work’.

The technology is also helping him provide students with tailored support, he says. 

He explains: ‘AI makes it quick and easy to change the level something is aimed at or to create something new for individuals with specific areas of improvement.’

With AI rapidly transforming the workplace, Minty believes that understanding technology is just as important as maths or digital literacy for students. 

He calls it a ‘vital skill’ that allows students ‘to be more creative with their ideas, to explore concepts and find research that they might not have thought to look for’.

‘The idea is to use it as a tool, not to generate work for the student – they still need to demonstrate their own knowledge and understanding for their qualifications,’ he says.

But is it ethical?

While AI is delivering benefits for both students and teachers, there are obvious ethical implications and technical constraints to consider. 

Jade McLellan, deputy head pastoral at St Dunstan’s College, believes that educators should teach ‘young people about the ethics of AI development’, helping them understand ‘how to use it, but also limit and control it’.

However, Minty says a potential downside of using AI as an educational tool could be ‘a shift in priorities’.

He warns that some may view AI usage as ‘people getting lazy’ or ‘not holding on to information or having the same level of literacy skill’, just like predictive text may affect someone’s ability to spell on their own. 

Minty has also caught students submitting AI-generated work, which he says can result in them being disciplined for plagiarism or ‘losing their whole qualification’.

He says teachers can detect AI-generated essays by looking for ‘change[s] in sentence structure, abundance of adjectives, use of bullet point lists and higher level writing’. 

‘I have caught students trying to pass off work as their own that has been created by AI, luckily for them it was spotted before their final submissions so I could let them know that it needed redoing,’ he adds. 

‘Students that try and ‘get away’ with a copy and paste assignment tend to put as much effort into their prompts as they do writing their own work, and it shows.’

Because the large language models powering ChatGPT and other AI tools are trained on large datasets, there are also data privacy concerns. 

Minty says both students and educators should refrain from entering sensitive information or copyrighted work into these tools. 

‘We can get around this by using ‘closed’ AI tools that don’t take or store the inputs such as Microsoft Copilot,’ he adds.

Educators used to more traditional teaching methods may struggle to understand AI technology and use it incorrectly, too.

One professor in Texas ran his students’ essays through ChatGPT to see if the AI chatbot had written them , failing many students after it said ‘yes’. But it turns out ChatGPT was actually lying . 

‘Despite the widespread adoption of AI in the classroom, teachers require more support and guidance to identify AI usage and introduce good practices into the classroom,’ says Jason Tomlinson, managing director at edtech company RM Technology. 

‘In fact, research by RM Technology found that a third of teachers believe their students have a better understanding of AI than they do.’

When it comes to addressing ‘this knowledge gap’,  he says the education system must develop regulatory policies on AI use, collaborate with experts from the private sector and improve the accessibility of teacher training schemes.

And, as 17-year-old Eastbourne College student Reuben Booth found out, AI tools like ChatGPT can generate ‘verbose’ answers that ‘lack practical sense’.

‘Its responses could therefore be easily noticed by my teachers and it generally doesn’t allow me to access high marks in my work,’ the teenager explains.

‘I once asked Chat GPT to summarise a long document, which I couldn’t apprehend, into bullet points. However, I found that this meant the understanding of the text I gained was limited, leaving me with no choice but to re-trace my steps and make my own bullet points to work out the text adequately.

‘I would opt against using Chat GPT, most notably because it often doesn’t provide me with answers that contain the precision and specific knowledge that the mark schemes require in all my individual subjects.’

Considering both the opportunities and downsides of AI use in education, Chris, CEO of Turnitin, encourages the sector to ‘experiment with leveraging AI in all teacher and student work’.

Doing so will help educators clarify ‘where and how AI can help with productivity or quality of teaching materials’, he says. 

He concludes: ‘We’re hearing of significant productivity gains for teachers, creating more time for teaching and working with students.’

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