As part of Canadian Affairs’ research into how ChatGPT is affecting the education landscape, we were introduced to a man who writes essays for Canadian university students for a living. On the condition of anonymity, he agreed to speak about his work and how it is being impacted by ChatGPT.
ChatGPT is being used everywhere by students. How has that affected you?
“I don’t tend to make my money on volume. I make my money on one student that I do a tonne of work for. I might complete someone’s master’s degree or do a substantial portion of their undergrad. The truth is that in that sphere, ChatGPT has been an unbelievable boon for me. It has significantly decreased my workload.”
Could that change in the near future?
“My suspicion is that I’m not going to lose that much business yet, because there’s a lot of fear mongering around ChatGPT and AI content generation. My clients tend to be high net-worth individuals who are terrified that they will be caught for plagiarism, or that the content they generate will be too similar to those that others have generated [using ChatGPT].”
Can you give us an example?
“If you’re applying to an Ontario law school, you get a basic prompt [for their admission essay question]. I have a feeling that several hundred people this fall are going to place that prompt into ChatGPT and basically get the same essay.”
“There are plenty of sites where you can go online and pay relatively low amounts of money for essay generation. I expect those guys are getting wiped off the map. It’s just too easy for ChatGPT to write an essay for you.”
Tell me about one of your biggest projects, and why the student retained your services.
“I recently wrote a 25-page paper for a student doing their master’s of data science. I charged the student $1900. If you go online he could’ve gotten it done for several hundred. But the student [pays the premium] because they know they’ll get 95 to 100.”
Is getting a high mark the main reason to come to you?
“[Not necessarily]. I’m working with a client who is doing a master’s degree [in a subject] for which he has almost no interest. He’s enrolled in the program for an entirely extraneous purpose: as a Canadian working in the United States, he needed a way to work in the United States without a work visa.
The company couldn’t get them a work visa soon enough, so obtaining a student visa was a tool for them to continue working in the States. It’s actually kind of hilarious, the student was intending to sign up for a master’s of marketing with a data focus and accidentally signed up for a data science major.”
How do you use ChatGPT outside of your work?”
“ChatGPT has been wonderful [for coding]. It basically does most of the coding for me.”
What are you noticing about students’ aptitude with ChatGPT?
“The primary thing I’m noticing is that a substantial number of students are going to get caught, or at least be under significant suspicion, until they get a bit savvier.
The more creative you are with the prompts with ChatGPT, the more specialized the response is. So I can make ChatGPT write my 25-page essay, but I need to spend an hour and a half using the software to make sure that I’m modifying prompts and tweaking things.
So I can turn what might be two days of writing into an hour and a half, but I still have to be mindful of what I’m doing. I don’t think most students are at a point yet where they’re working cleverly or creatively enough with ChatGPT to generate original content.”
How far up the educational ladder can ChatGPT be useful?
“I have a friend with a PhD in statistics who’s currently doing a postdoc. He’s doing all the original research, but when it comes to generating the papers, he’s having ChatGPT do all the annoying writing. He’s savvy at using it, and other students will only get more savvy.”
