Chat GPT: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Sarah Wordlaw

Is ChatGPT and generative AI good for the teaching profession?

Our world is ever-changing and rapid developments in AI (artificial intelligence) are changing the landscape of teaching and leadership. Generative AI is just one type of artificial intelligence referring to technology that can be used to create new content based on data that models have been trained on a number of sources. ChatGPT is a generative AI tool, built on large language models (LLMs), which are a type of foundational model trained on large amounts of data allowing them to generate “human-like” content (DfE, 2025).

Other generative AI models can produce content such as videos, audio and simulations. These developments do come with a range of potential benefits for teachers such as tools to support learning, innovation and time-saving. As with anything, they also come with a number of concerns ranging from the potential impact on the traditional teaching profession to online safety. The question remains, is ChatGPT and generative AI good for the teaching profession? Let’s get into it.

The Good

One of the biggest challenges to teachers and leaders is time. There is never enough time in the day to do everything that needs doing, whilst maintaining some kind of work-life health. This freeing-up of time by using tools such as ChatGPT can mean teachers have longer to spend on developing excellent teaching. Using ChatGPT can support teachers by reducing the amount of time for certain tasks such as lesson and curriculum planning and resource making. You’re on PPA, you’re an hour in and you’ve written one writing model for the upcoming ‘big write’. The trouble is, ideally, you need four models. So, drop your model into ChatGPT, request a similar example using vocabulary and grammar structures from the KS2 writing curriculum and, voila! Using ChatGPT to create learning models for children can support a task which otherwise takes some time, and one which some teachers find challenging at times.

Letters and emails to parents can also take some time, particularly if you are referring to policies or documents within your responses. Likewise, responding to parental complaints can be a time-burglar. ChatGPT can help with this. It has built-in AI tools linking to email apps which can make it easier to write emails specifying a tone of voice and clarifying a message.

Another task that ChatGPT can support with is report-writing. Report writing can often feel lengthy, and come at a time of year where there are a number of other end-of-year tasks to do. Once you have written a few report examples – perhaps one for lower attainers, one middle and one high – these can be used as templates for ChatGPT to support the writing of others. Of course, personalised comments will still need to be added by the teacher so it doesn’t read robotic!

Chat GPT can also be used to create assessments for learning or quiz questions based on a particular topic – this can be added throughout a session, at the end of a single lesson or to finish a whole topic to help teachers assess children’s knowledge and understanding of the unit. This is particularly useful in foundation subjects.

The Bad

Generative AI is exactly that – artificial intelligence. Whilst it can produce “human-like” content, some worry that the depersonalisation of the learning experience is a threat to the teaching profession.

In addition, ChatGPT put simply is a machine learning tool, it is prone to biases and inaccuracies which could lead to damaging implications for learning. There have been many examples where these biases have been seen to be highly misogynistic, racist and ableist. The text-based data which Chat GPT uses to develop its content is from the open internet, meaning it is accessing huge amounts of toxic content and potentially out of date data, with no fact checking or human ability to check bias.

Particularly for teachers, it may give results based on the training dataset which may not be relevant to the specific curriculum you are following and could produce nonsense or inaccurate information presented as fact – this is called “hallucination” (DfE, 2025).

Created content must be critically assessed to ensure teachers are not reinforcing stereotypes and biases. In actual fact, the content it creates may not be comparable to human-designed content or resources developed with time and in context of your curriculum. Using ChatGPT can make some written tasks easier and quicker, however it cannot replace human judgement and the deep subject knowledge a teacher may have.

The Ugly

Beyond the teaching and reinforcing of discriminatory biases, Generative AI can also pose a safeguarding risk for children, if they use it in the classroom or at home. It can be used to mislead, bully, groom, sexually harass and extort children (NSPCC, 2025). We live in a world where disinformation, misinformation and fake news can and does spread like wildfire online – some professionals worry that ChatGPT contributes to this issue. ChatGPT can be used to manipulate people and impersonate individuals.

Beyond ChatGPT and looking at other generative AI, there are growing concerns that this technology can and is being used to create and share child sexual abuse material – this is referred to as AI-CSAM. This is a growing increase in the number of AI-CSAM reports and this AI can be used to create photorealistic images and videos of children, done by altering existing images and manipulating them into sexual abuse content.

AI tools can be used to “undress” or “nudify” images, digitally removing clothes and generating illegal content. All child sexual abuse material must be immediately reported to the police and your DSL, likewise children are able to report any content they are exposed to via Childline or the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) online. Teachers need to think carefully about the data they are adding into ChatGPT and other generative AI tools, to ensure safeguarding and data protection.

There is no doubt that ChatGPT can improve teacher workload meaning more time can be spent developing the craft of teaching, however it is imperative that teachers are using critical thinking and professional judgement when creating and reviewing generated content – for either themselves or facilitating pupils to use it.

The content and quality of created content is the responsibility of the teacher who produced it. Teachers must ensure they are following their legal responsibilities in keeping children safe in education, data protection and intellectual property law. Whilst making the most of opportunities that technology provides, teachers must equip themselves with the knowledge around the risks and limitations of ChatGPT and generative AI and commit to using it safely.

Whether friend or foe, artificial intelligence is here to stay and large language models (LLMs) are becoming ubiquitous with the teaching profession. We must continue to grow as a profession, educating both ourselves and pupils on how to use these technologies safely, and developing key critical thinking skills is essential for this.

Disruption to educational practice is how we grow as a profession; this is an opportunity to rethink learning, teaching and assessment without substituting our own creativity, ingenuity and human originality.

References

DfE (2025) Generative artificial intelligence (AI) in education, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/generative-artificial-intelligence-in-education/generative-artificial-intelligence-ai-in-education#what-is-generative-ai

NSPCC (2025) Viewing Generative AI and children’s safety in the round, available at: https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/research-resources/2025/generative-ai-childrens-safety#:~:text=Generative%20AI%20technology%20poses%20a,%2C%20extort%2C%20and%20mislead%20children.