Professors Are Using ChatGPT in College-Here’s the Real Reason (And Why It Should Worry Us All)

Let’s cut through the noise: Professors are using ChatGPT and other generative AI tools in college classes, and it’s not just about being lazy or tech-obsessed. The truth is messier, more desperate, and-if you care about higher education-way more alarming than most people realize.

The Scandal: Professors Caught Using ChatGPT

Last week, a Northeastern University student blew the whistle on her professor for using ChatGPT to create course materials. Her outrage? Twofold: First, the syllabus explicitly banned “unauthorized use of artificial intelligence or chatbots.” Second, she wondered why she (and her parents) should fork over $8,000 for a class partly crafted by a tool anyone can access for free.

This isn’t an isolated incident. Media outlets from New York Magazine to The New York Times have started to expose not just student cheating, but professors quietly relying on AI to build lectures, grade assignments, and even design syllabi.

Why Are Professors Turning to AI?

It’s easy to wag a finger at professors and cry foul. But if you zoom out, you’ll see a profession in crisis:

• Tenure is dying. In 1976, 56% of professors had tenure-a guarantee of academic freedom and job security. Today, that number is down to about 24% and dropping fast.
• The “gigification” of academia. Most professors now work as overworked, underpaid contractors. They juggle massive class sizes, shrinking paychecks, and zero job security. Academic freedom? That’s a luxury for the few, not the many.
• Administrative hypocrisy. College administrators love to tout AI’s “efficiency” as a way to cut costs (read: fire people), while simultaneously preaching about the sacredness of academic integrity.

So, when you see professors using AI to grade papers or slap together PowerPoint slides, it’s not because they’re lazy-it’s because they’re drowning. Overcrowded classrooms and meager wages leave them little choice but to seek help wherever they can find it-even if it means bending the rules.

The Trust Crisis in Higher Ed

Let’s be real: Faith in American higher education is at rock bottom. Stories of professors using ChatGPT only add fuel to the fire. Combine that with political attacks on universities and the erosion of tenure, and you’ve got a recipe for public skepticism12.

Universities are stuck in a bizarre double-bind:

• On one hand, they’re obsessed with AI’s promise to make everything “efficient.”
• On the other, they cling to the idea that college is about teaching students to think for themselves-a mission that’s fundamentally undermined if both students and professors are outsourcing their brains to algorithms.

What’s at Stake: The Death of Critical Thinking

Here’s where it gets personal for me. I’m old-school. I believe the whole point of college-especially in the humanities and social sciences-is to force students to wrestle with ideas, fail, reflect, and eventually learn how to think. That messy, painful process can’t be handed off to a faceless AI.

If professors start relying on generative AI for everything, we risk robbing students of the very experience that makes college worthwhile. Why would we want to deprive the next generation of the chance to develop real analytical skills, just because it’s easier to let a chatbot do the heavy lifting?

The Administrative Two-Step

Let’s not let college administrators off the hook. These are the same folks responsible for turning academia into a gig economy in the first place. Now, they’re drooling over AI partnerships and dreaming of a future where software replaces everyone from librarians to grant writers.

But here’s the kicker: They still expect students and professors to uphold “academic integrity”-even as they make it nearly impossible for anyone to do real, thoughtful work. The hypocrisy is staggering.

So, Should Professors Use ChatGPT?

Look, I get the temptation. When you’re buried under hundreds of essays, paid peanuts, and constantly worried about your job, the siren song of AI is hard to resist. But if we care about the future of education, we need to ask ourselves: What are we sacrificing for the sake of convenience?

If we let AI do all the thinking, we’re not just cutting corners-we’re gutting the very soul of higher education.