Artificial intelligence proves to be a huge hindrance to proper education. Since the emergence of ChatGPT and other generative AI tools, many students have used these technologies to cheat their way to schoolwork submissions and good grades12. With just simple-worded prompts, ChatGPT can finish assignments, compose projects, and even write entire academic papers3. If a school uses devices such as tablets or computers with access to the Internet, learners can easily log into the AI tool and ask it for the correct answers to exams4. Since AI can't be regulated at scale yet, no one can stop students from leveraging ChatGPT for school activities. Instead of learning and doing things on their own, they let artificial intelligence step in to complete their requirements5. This goes against the purpose and essence of education, so most states have deemed it necessary to shut ChatGPT out of classrooms6.

ChatGPT may be used in the wrong way by students, but teachers also use it for their jobs. However, since the application is already restricted, teachers can no longer turn to AI for help. That is until the introduction of NSWEduChat.12

NSWEduChat is a chatbot that works much like ChatGPT, but it has more limits to its system. This may seem like a bad thing but it's actually not. NSWEduChat is designed for teachers so it can help them create resources for their students and assist them with any administrative tasks.34 However, since it's available to the whole campus, students may get ahold of it and try their usual tricks. To deter this behavior, the chatbot can detect questions that seem suspicious— flagging certain queries that a student will likely ask to cheat. When this happens, it won't give a complete, detailed answer. It would rather ask follow-up questions to force the learner to think and come up with an answer of their own.25

Instructing and handling plenty of students in a day is draining. Add to that some extra tasks like creating learning materials, scoring schoolwork, calculating grades, and attending to paperwork. With everything that goes into a teaching job, the main goal of NSWEduChat is to lighten the overwhelming load of public school teachers12. Since AI can streamline and aid in numerous teaching tasks, the local government wanted to develop a chatbot that can be an assistant to exhausted teachers who have a lot on their hands3. It has become a necessity since there is an ongoing teacher shortage in New South Wales with only 1,700 job vacancies for teachers in August.

Prue Car, the NSW education minister, announced that public school teachers can expect access to NSWEduChat on October 14, which is the start of term 4.12 Its release is statewide, covering all public schools in New South Wales.1 This enables the widespread local use of the chatbot, but it's still unfortunate that this innovation isn't used in more academic institutions— not just across the country but also all around the world.

The firm answer is no. NSWEduChat was made to assist teachers, not to replace them. Even Car confirmed this, stating "NSWEduChat does not replace the valuable work of our teachers, it helps them to save time, tailor their resources, and focus on their critical work in the classroom. The expansion of this trial to all teachers is part of our work to reduce the admin burden and get more teachers in front of our students."123 In fact, during the chatbot's testing phase, it was noted that the tool cut down the time teachers spent on their regular tasks, giving them back over an hour a week.14

Rolling out an AI chatbot for educational settings is a brilliant idea that must be replicated and adopted by all countries. NSWEduChat shows that it's possible1. With its features and restrictions, it's a great partner for teachers who are burned out from their everyday responsibilities in the classroom and the office2. NSWEduChat lets educators maximize a regular chatbot's attributes but prevents any kind of cheating from students3. It's the perfect addition to any school's resources. Teachers can use it to make their chores manageable, giving them the opportunity to focus on the most important duty: teaching their students as well as they can4.