- Former Grand Island High School student Kenny Morales used ChatGPT to create her graduation speech.
- The school approved the AI’s speech, but Morales ended up falling off the script.
- His speech was critical of high school culture and operations.
Add speechwriting to the long list of things you can do with ChatGPT.
Kenny Morales, a former student at Grand Island High School in Nebraska, used OpenAI’s conversational chatbot to create his high school graduation speech. First reported by the Grand Island Independent.
“I asked for a speech about gratitude and gave specific examples of what I wanted to include in that speech.” Morales told Nebraska Television News. About the prompt he used.
This speech was given permission from Morales’ school. However, when he took the stage, he gave a completely different speech that was not approved, surprising the school.
“I don’t know about you guys, but I hated school,” Morales told the audience, according to a transcript of his speech reviewed by the independent newspaper.
According to The Independent, he went on to talk about problems with school culture and criticize school district administrators for making decisions that were not transparent.
According to The Independent, Morales continued, “We lie, we pretend, we hide the truth by picking only the facts about positive things happening around the school. Be honest. Instead of tackling the problem head-on,” he continued. “We try to solve the problem by removing the problem like weeds, rather than fixing the root problem.”
“I don’t think I was very critical,” Morales told The Independent.
He told the media outlet that the speech was not intended to embarrass the school, but to encourage school leaders to make better choices.
“The message[of raising expectations]was important,” Morales told The Independent. “I just wanted to start a conversation.”
Morales said he knew the speech he wanted to read would not be approved, so he used ChatGPT to create a speech that was approved. Insiders were unable to reach Morales through email, Facebook or LinkedIn.
— Nippon Television News (@NTVNEWS) May 17, 2023
ChatGPT-written speeches are delivered as students flock to chatbots to come up with class assignment ideas, write essays, and—yes—cheat.
While tools like GPTZero are emerging to detect AI-generated content in schools, Grand Island Public Schools says there are no restrictions on how students and teachers can use ChatGPT, according to the district’s communication. Director of Charge Mitchell Rausch told Insider.
Rausch explained to the insider the speech selection process.
First, a group of high school officials reviews and “blindly grades” submitted speeches. The district principal then reviews the scores and makes the final decision.
From there, selected students work with the principal to “hone the message” and “make them feel confident” in what they say, Rausch said. After the principal has given a final review to the speech, the speaker is approved to speak at the Commencement.
District School Board Chairman Hank McFarland was not happy with the results, according to a statement seen by The Independent.
He said school administrators were “already discussing” issues related to discipline and class attendance, and that the school would start “adjusting”, but that students could say whatever they wanted when they were in school. He added that it doesn’t mean good. The Independent reported that he was on the podium.
“Short story is long, but do students have legitimate concerns? Yes,” McFarland said, according to the media. “Was he right? No.”
McFarland declined an immediate request for comment from an insider.