It’s All About ChatGP-Me

A young man comes up to me and shows me something on the screen of his phone. It looks like a school assignment.

Patron: “Can you help me with this? Our teacher said that we couldn’t use ChatGPT and that we should go to the library for information.”

Me: “Sure, if you come with me, I’ll show you where to find some good books.”

Patron: “Can’t you just give me the essay? I thought the library was like ChatGPT but like, with real people.”

Me: “My dude, I can write a waaay better essay than ChatGPT ever could, but then *you* wouldn’t have learned anything, would you?”

Patron: “Aw, come on!”

Me: “Sorry, I can’t do your homework for you. But we have a free study group on Thursday afternoons with volunteers who can help out.”

Patron: “So they’ll do it for me?”

Me: “Nope, you still have to do it yourself, but they can give you advice on how to do it. Now let’s go find you some books, okay?”

Patron: “Man, when I got into this program, no one told me I would have to read!”