Recently, the Wake County Public School System’s firewall has been updated to block ChatGPT. Many Leesville students used ChatGPT during class and now have to find other resources to use.

ChatGPT is artificial intelligence interface that interacts with users in a natural way. Most students used it to help with their class work. 

There were many emotions throughout the school when we saw the blocked page up on our screen. Lillian Baker, junior, was devastated.

“I was so sad because I usually use it to summarize my readings if I don’t have enough time to do them, and now I can’t do that,” said L. Baker

Chloe Fulk, junior, was furious. Fulk said, “I was livid, outraged, because why would they ban it? It’s a great source and tool for students to use,”

While neither of these students would call themselves dependent on AI, both used it as a tool for their classes, and have to find other sources to use. 

Haley Baker, senior, still uses AI as a source but uses Google Gemini in place of ChatGPT. 

H. Baker claims not to be dependent on AI and said, “I only use AI occasionally, and not for school work.”

One of the most widely used AI Chatbot at Leesville is now Google Gemini, but Fulk prefers the source Perplexity AI. “I actually like [perplexity AI] better because it includes pictures and better sources. I would not go back to ChatGPT,” said Fulk

H. Baker also says that she would not go back to ChatGPT. “[ChatGPT] didn’t always yield the best answers, or the answers that I was looking for, so even if they unblocked it, I would not go back.”

Making the realization that she prefers Perplexity AI, Fulk thinks that the ban of ChatGPT may not have been such a bad thing after all.

L. Baker would go back to ChatGPT in an instant, if reinstated on school chromebooks because Gemini did not give her the results she was looking for. Now it takes her more time and effort to get her school work done, which, as a student athlete, she does not have time to do. 

There has been an ongoing debate between AI users and non-AI users: Is AI a reliable source? H. Baker believes that it can be, but it isn’t one hundred percent of the time.

“[AI is] not entirely [a reliable source], but it is becoming more and more reliable,” said H. Baker. 

According to a poll taken on the Mycenaean Instagram page, 59% of students at Leesville believe that AI is reliable, and 41% of Leesville students do not. 

I believe that AI can be reliable, but it also has its shortcomings. In order to get the best possible answers from AI sources, I check the answers given with other sources that I know are reliable. 

Non-AI users might ask, Why don’t I just go to these sources in the first place? My answer is that it is easier to know exactly what I am looking for in these sources, rather than having to read entire websites for a two-sentence answer. 

Going into this, I thought the ChatGPT ban would affect Leesville students much more than it did, but I have found that students have adapted very quickly to this change.