BUFFALO, N.Y. — ChatGPT continues to make headlines in multiple sectors. The AI chatbot has some concerned about what it means for the future of everything from art to academia. Others are trying to lean into this new technology.

“Some folks are very fearful of what ChatGPT represents. Some folks are very excited about the idea of what it represents,” said Associate Director of Teaching Transformation at the University at Buffalo Jeffrey Kohler.

When it comes to the place of AI in the classroom, especially ChatGPT, Kohler is part of a lot of those discussions.

“It's scary, right? Because obviously, you know, throughout the history of academia we're trying to get students to think critically for themselves," he said. "Now, ChatGPT can in many respects do that for them.”

But that doesn’t mean it’s all bad.

“We really encourage faculty to think about ways that, instead of vilifying it, consider ways to integrate it into their courses," Kohler said.

Things like having AI respond to a prompt, and having students critique that, to get them used to peer reviews.

“It's just a new wrinkle to add to this toolbox," Kohler added.

“I think it's probably here to stay. It just depends on like, what degree that is,” said Chi Nnoka. 

An engineering masters student, Nnoka’s seen people try to use ChatGPT to review papers or get other tasks done efficiently.

"It's a mixed bag with the responses, some of them saying, 'oh, yeah, like it works,'" said Nnoka. "Other people saying that, 'hey, ChatGPT sometimes it's like garbage in, garbage out.'”

For him, using AI isn’t a question of can he? It's should he?

“Just feels wrong," he added. "I don't know why I would want to have something attached to my name. That I can't replicate.”

That’s the same motivation Kohler wants all students to have.

“Think about ways where they can use the AI as a tool, just like a calculator or phone or really anything that's that's come along, that we know students have access to," said Kohler. "And again, kind of leverage that so that students are engaging with the tools that are relying on as the source of information.”

Discussions are ongoing about how to incorporate ChatGPT into the classroom. Because it’s here and it’s not going anywhere.

“Not to steal a line from Spider-Man, but with great power, comes great responsibility," said Kohler. "Understanding they're never going to be a substitute completely for human thought and ingenuity and critical thinking. That's going to be how we need to move forward is to keep those ideas in mind.”

Kohler says if students try to skirt the system and use AI to write their papers, they do have plagiarism detectors for that. As for assistance with research, he encourages people to be careful. Not everything ChatGPT generates is accurate and it doesn’t cite its sources.