I’ve been a teacher for 27 years. When ChatGPT first came out, I was terrified; now, I let my students use it to write essays.

• When high school teacher Kelly Gibson first read about ChatGPT, she was terrified.
• But she’s since chosen to embrace AI in the classroom, allowing students to use AI tools for essays.
• She said more educators will likely adapt to and implement AI into their teaching methods.

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with Kelly Gibson, 56, a teacher from Oregon, about her personal experience using ChatGPT in her classroom. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I’ve been a teacher for 27 years. I currently teach English at a small rural high school in Oregon.

Two years ago, I was on break for Thanksgiving, and a few former students got in touch with me unexpectedly, telling me about a new online tool called ChatGPT . One of them said students would be able to use it to cheat.

It made me nervous. I spent the next few days reading about ChatGPT and became terrified. The tool could generate an entire essay from a prompt I’d give to students.

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