Many teachers, parents, and educators wondered if kids would use ChatGPT as a homework helper, or to cheat, getting ChatGPT to do their work for them.

AI expert Francois Chollet of Google Deep Learning looked closer into whether students used ChatGPT for school, so he checked Google search terms. Here’s what he found: The red line represents searches for Minecraft, and the blue line for ChatGPT. He found when school was in session last spring, searches for ChatGPT topped searches for Minecraft. But during the summer, searches for ChatGPT dropped.

When school started again, searches for ChatGPT spiked again as students began doing homework.

That’s telling, and teachers are having real trouble determining if a paper was written by a student or by ChatGPT. Some teachers think they can find out just by asking ChatGPT. To find out if it works I asked ChatGPT to write a 100-page paper on Thomas Jefferson.

Then, I entered the report back into ChatGPT and asked if it had written the paper, ChatGPT confirmed it did. At least the first time.

What gives? ChatGPT’s resource page for teachers, notes sometimes ChatGPT makes up responses to questions like “Did you write this?,” adding the responses are random and have no basis in fact.

I know some teachers are using this technique to hopefully find out whether a paper was written by a student or AI but I found, and ChatGPT says, it’s not a reliable way to tell.