Higher education is unraveling under the weight of AI. Professors feel powerless. Students admit: College now means mastering ChatGPT, not the subject.

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For higher education, “AI’s takeover [is] a full-blown existential crisis.”

“College is just how well I can use ChatGPT at this point.”

“I think we are years — or months, probably — away from a world where nobody thinks using AI for homework is considered cheating.”

“It isn’t as if cheating is new. But now, as one student put it, ‘the ceiling has been blown off.’ Who could resist a tool that makes every assignment easier with seemingly no consequences?”

“Massive numbers of students are going to emerge from university with degrees, and into the workforce, who are essentially illiterate.”

“The humanities, and writing in particular, are quickly becoming an anachronistic art elective like basket-weaving.”

“Many teachers now seem to be in a state of despair.”

“Every time I talk to a colleague about this, the same thing comes up: retirement. When can I retire? When can I get out of this? That’s what we’re all thinking now.”