Artificial intelligence is a fixture in Brent Ritchey’s eighth grade U.S. history class.
A technology enthusiast, Ritchey began toying with chatbots in 2022 after OpenAI released ChatGPT, its first conversational AI tool available to the public.
At that time, the Briscoe Middle School teacher fed the program Texas learning standards for the American Revolution and asked it to plan a lesson on the material. Now, four years and 40 models of ChatGPT later, Ritchey uses AI tools designed for education to allow his students to interview Abraham Lincoln, create documents explaining 18th century events using slang and provide feedback on writing assignments.
Northside Independent School District, where Ritchey works,…