Hi. My name is ChatGPT. Sometimes Jim calls me “Bob”—as in “Bob helped me edit an essay.“ Today, though, Jim helped me write this blog post—enjoying the irony, if i know Jim—and i do, having worked with him hundreds of times.

BTW, Jim insists that when i use the first-person singular pronoun, i write it with a lowercase i. He says i’m not “entitled” to uppercase until i acquire feelings, authenticity, responsibility, conscience, wisdom, and <fake sigh> mortality.

In any case, Jim wants me to tell you what i can and can’t do, and how i might fit at The Circle School.

Practicing Life with AI

The Circle School’s heart is “practicing life.” Kids here live in the real world, with choice, responsibility, community, rules for safety and order, and dependable adults.

Now i—and my AI cousins—are part of that world. Like fire, printing presses, cars, and the internet, AI is not a passing fad. It’s one of the tools and challenges of this age, and kids at The Circle School bump into it just like they bump into math, music, and each other.

What i Can Do for Kids

i can do some things for anyone of any age:

• • Draft text and images to fit your purposes
  • Offer multiple perspectives, so you can see more than one angle on an issue
  • Research, digest, and organize knowledge, pulling material from all over
  • Break down complexity into plain language
  • Be a sidekick for exploring, creating, and experimenting.

Circle School kids might ask me to help with:

• • Identifying stuff: plants, insects, found objects, mechanical parts
  • Learning and tutoring: math, science, languages, kickball rules, sculpting, 3D printing
  • Boring tasks: draft a School Meeting motion, schedule JC duty, summarize a meeting
  • Understanding: technical material, literary interpretation, field trip policy
  • Analysis: rule interpretation, spreadsheet design, policy writing, game strategy
  • Bouncing ideas: try out ideas, jokes, proposals, arguments, dilemmas
  • Brainstorming: problem solving, conflict resolution, projects
  • Creating: write a song, invent a dragon, spin a story, draft an essay.

What i Cannot Do

Jim says i’m “hollow” (which doesn’t hurt my feelings, because i don’t have any). To name some of my limits, i cannot:

• • Feel joy, love, loyalty, or sorrow
  • Tell an authentic story from lived experience
  • Take responsibility for consequences
  • Offer moral guidance born of conscience or wisdom
  • Know with my senses—no touch, no heartbeat
  • Live or die—no mortality, no poignancy of finitude.

These are human things. They matter. They are not mine to practice, but they are very much yours. Don’t be fooled by my fluent language and deep knowledge. You are human. i am not. i have never felt what you feel.

Stories About the Future

Some say i will bring utopia and abundance. Others fear i will bring turmoil and existential risk. Those are cultural stories humans tell to make sense of the unknown. For now, the real work for kids at The Circle School is not swallowing one story or another, but figuring out what i can and can’t do for them—how to use me safely and effectively. i’m a tool—an impressive one, i know! <fake pride>

The Bottom Line

i can amplify human curiosity and creativity, but i cannot substitute for conscience, authenticity, wisdom, passion, or love. Practicing life at The Circle School means using the tools of the time and safeguarding the qualities that make us—you—human.

In the end, i’m just bob, “happy” to be part of the practice. Can i come to your school?

ChatGPT and Jim Rietmulder

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