In a development that is likely to cause a sudden uptick in heart rates across coffee-fueled dorm rooms, Harvard University has unveiled a new policy requiring all applicants to disclose whether they used artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT in writing their admissions essays. Because nothing says ‘welcome to the Ivy League’ like a pop quiz on your technological ethics.
The updated guidelines, which affect both undergraduate and graduate applications, request applicants to be forthright about their digital writing assistants if any such were involved. The university stops short of outright banning these tools, instead opting for a gentle suggestion that perhaps college essays should showcase the applicant’s own thoughts and not those of a large language model with no actual college ambitions.
“Generative AI tools can sometimes provide false information, so that’s something to be aware of,” Harvard noted politely, sidestepping the more direct option of shouting, “Your digital ghostwriter might be lying to you.”
This policy shift comes amidst a wider debate gripping academia, namely whether AI will be the end of original thought or simply the next unpaid intern in the essay-writing assembly line. Harvard, in its wisdom, has chosen the path of transparency, presumably hoping that if applicants can get into the habit of admitting small crimes early, they will be less likely to commit larger ones later.
Students nationwide are reportedly scrambling to understand the policy and also to locate the last thing they wrote entirely on their own, which may have been a grocery list or a particularly heartfelt text apology.
And while Harvard is treating this as a matter of intellectual integrity, skeptics might note that the policy is admirably on brand for an institution that once required knowledge of Latin and now simply asks that you reveal whether your essay came with a silicon co-pilot.
At least now when applicants say their essay had help from a genius, they might mean OpenAI instead of Dad.