How two professors harnessed generative AI to teach students to be better writers

The professors call their approach “restrained generative AI,” and they’ve already built a prototype software tool that is being piloted in 10 courses at the university this semester.

When ChatGPT emerged a year and half ago, many professors immediately worried that their students would use it as a substitute for doing their own written assignments—that they’d click a button on a chatbot instead of doing the thinking involved in responding to an essay prompt themselves.