ChatGPT + Hamlet + Revision = A Tragicomedy

Easter is nearly upon us, hurrah, up to three weeks for your child to revise for their exams.  Are you ready?  Are they?  Can you see the holidays slipping into Kafkian negotiations over just how much time can be spent gaming before Macbeth miraculously revises itself.  

And now, adding to the mix, we have AI.

ChatGPT, Claude, Zapier - these sleek, all-knowing oracles your child is using to ‘revise’ while you squint at their screen wondering if they’re actually learning or just playing an elaborate game of academic Connections (see NYT games).  Before you breathe a sigh of relief that technology is making revision easier, let’s discuss how it might actually be making things worse.

The Perils of AI-Powered ‘Revision’:

1. The ‘Thinking Optional’ Trap

You know that look when you ask your teenager a question, and they respond with a blank stare that suggests they’re buffering?  AI encourages this.  If an essay plan magically appears in seconds, why bother doing the hard graft of thinking?  Because exams require actual understanding and application of all that knowledge, something AI can’t spoon-feed.

2. Dodgy Facts 

AI is like a know-it-all uncle who speaks with great confidence but occasionally gets the details wildly wrong.  Trust it too much, and your child might end up writing an essay on how Blanche is a feminist icon or how Of Mice and Men is an allegory for Brexit.  If only, well actually...

3. The Soul-Crushing Blandness of AI Writing

Examiners don’t want regurgitated Wikipedia-lite analysis.  We want original, thoughtful engagement with the text.  AI-generated responses tend to be formulaic - functional but uninspired.  And don’t get me started on plagiarism…

All, however, is not lost:

Banish AI, revise using only parchment and candlelight?  Not quite.  Here are some ideas of how to help them use AI properly:

1. AI the Assistant, Not the Boss

Ask AI for different interpretations of a theme (“Give me 10 ways responsibility is shown in An Inspector Calls”), then analyse those ideas. If struggling, your child could then ask AI to make those ideas conceptual - then number those in order of importance and you are beginning to see a thoughtful essay structure emerge.

2. Trust, But Verify

If AI spits out an explanation, fact-check it against class notes, textbooks, or, by actually reading the book.  I know… a step too far?

3. Make AI a Quizmaster

Instead of using AI to write essays, use it to generate revision questions.  Get it to create a mock exam or a quiz on themes.  That way, it’s helping them engage, rather than replacing their thinking altogether.

The Bottom Line

AI isn’t the enemy - it’s just a very unreliable study buddy.  With the Easter break looming and English exams creeping ever closer, now’s the time to set some revision ground rules.  Used critically, AI can be a great support.  Used lazily, it’s the equivalent of revising by watching The Lion King and thinking you now ‘get’ Hamlet. Because, at the end of the day, even the best AI can’t replicate the messy, brilliant, utterly human process of real learning.