I am putting together my upcoming Cultural Studies course for July. I thought I would run my first assignment through Google’s AI Bard to see what would happen. I have heard that students were using it to do their homework. I am both impressed and horrified.

For my first run-through I typed in “500 word essay on the influence of globalization in culture.” In five seconds I had 478 words in essay form. The opening paragraph gave an overview of several factors of globalization and said there were both positive and negative impacts on culture. Then there were several body paragraphs talking about each factor, the pros and cons, and a simple closing paragraph. It was a real essay including real, if clichéd, examples such as McDonalds and Starbucks. It was solid and bland, but probably passing as a short summary. It also gave me three “drafts” reworking the same information.

If I am going to give out an assignment, perhaps I can make make it differentiated from other things on the Internet. I upped the challenge and added “include personal reflection.” Five seconds later I got the same basic essay, but it included a paragraph with opinions that were marked “Personally” and “I believe” statements. Everything was still pretty safe and basic.

I increased the challenge again by adding “include personal examples.” This is where stuff got really interesting. It made up a whole little story about how they grew up in a small town and had never tried sushi or kimchi but now that they’re at college, they were experiencing Korean and Japanese culture for the first time. It had just the right amount of specificity and believability that could fool me.

At this point, the essay sounded like one of my actual students. I am not sure how I’m going to deal with this other than just again having to believe my students, so it’s getting really wild.

Maybe I could require sources. I added “include three sources in APA style.” Boom, there were three real-seeming sources from Alexander, J., Odrakiewicz, M., & Zator-Peljan, M. and Smith, A. of Oxford University Press. It sounds impressive, but are they real? There is a book published by Oxford University Press called, “Globalization: A Very Short Introduction,” but it’s by Manfred B. Steger. There was also a writing duo Odrakiewicz, P., & Zator-Peljan, J. that co-wrote an article on globalization. They had different first initials, but the same highly unique last names. Do I think they have cousins and siblings who also write about global issues?

So, it is possible to find errors in AI writing, but it’s going to make my job a lot harder to sniff out plagiarism. Again, my purpose in having assignments is for the students to reflect on what they are learning in class, compare it to their own experiences, and synthesize ideas on their own. This AI tool makes it just way too easy to crank out words without putting in the work. High school teachers and college instructors will need to educate themselves on this new technology or they won’t be able to tell the real from the fakers.