The Spire

Emily Carbone ‘28

Analyst for the AI Dark Ages 

Last week, a student (who wishes to remain unnamed) opened his laptop to begin an essay for his English class, but was met with a startling surprise. He was rendered speechless and unable to complete his assignment when he discovered that ChatGPT (which he uses for very minor revising) appeared to be down. Several panicked emails later, he realized it was merely a glitch. Thanks to the help of Chat, he was able to complete the five page essay in a matter of minutes! It’s incredible how easy writing becomes when you have an AI assistant that you use only to find sources and fix grammatical issues. 

While the incident was resolved, it got the Academic Services office thinking – what would the Holy Cross community do in the case of an actual Chat outage? The answer was clear: we would have to learn to write again. The office took a step in the right direction by hosting an open meeting for simply polishing up on basic writing skills. I decided to attend, as I, too, want to be prepared in the case that our AI friends fail us.

I got to the meeting 15 minutes early, only to find the room was packed, with standing room only. I guess a lot of Holy Cross students use AI generative resources to help them study and provide them with writing tips and tricks. The meeting began with a simple question directed at us: why is academic writing important? One student in the back of the classroom glanced at his laptop before giving a response that really stuck with me: “Academic writing is important because it serves as a structured way to communicate complex ideas, research, and knowledge within the academic community and beyond. It ensures that ideas are presented clearly, logically, and consistently, allowing readers to understand, evaluate, and build upon the work. Through academic writing, scholars can contribute to the advancement of knowledge, share evidence-based insights, and engage in critical discussions. Moreover, it helps to develop critical thinking, as writers must organize their thoughts, provide supporting evidence, and present their arguments in a coherent manner. Academic writing also maintains intellectual integrity by requiring proper citation of sources, which helps avoid plagiarism and acknowledges others’ contributions. Overall, it fosters knowledge dissemination, intellectual growth, and academic collaboration.”

After the room was left speechless with that beautifully well-thought out and original response, we moved into talking about some writing tips for different classes. I thought we’d be touching on crafting source lists and going over different advanced writing techniques, but Academic Services decided it would be best if we started with the basics.

After briefly going over the ABCs, we moved into sentence formation. Most of the sentences that students formed were pretty good–in fact, the same student who gave the response before was called on to share the sentence he formed, and his answer, again, stuck with me: “Sure! Here’s a basic sentence: The cat sleeps on the couch.” We then had to answer some prompts, but the workshop started to go downhill at this point. The instructor told us to stop using our computers, and was met with some resistance. After everyone had put them away, it was apparent that nobody in the class actually knew how to answer the writing prompt the instructor had put on the board: “Write about what you are learning in class.” I glanced at the desks of the students around me, and was met with blank pages, a pretty accurate recreation of the chat GPT answer box, and a drawing of what seemed to be TikTok star Lil Huddy. I’m not sure though. 

Either way, the instructor seemed pretty frustrated with the lack of responses, and actually gave us the advice to go back to second grade. She finished off the workshop by asking us, in a tired and somewhat disappointed sounding (?) voice, if we knew anything about writing at all. As per usual, the student in the back gave a response that I’ll remember forever: “Yes, I do! Writing is a vast and multifaceted skill that can range from creative expression to technical communication. Whether it’s academic writing, creative writing, business writing, or anything in between, writing involves organizing thoughts, structuring sentences, and conveying ideas effectively to a particular audience. In academic writing, for example, the focus is on clarity, evidence, and formal tone. It requires a clear thesis, well-structured paragraphs, and proper citations to back up your arguments. Creative writing, on the other hand, allows for more freedom in style, tone, and imagination, as seen in stories, poems, or novels. I can also help with various aspects of writing, from improving grammar and sentence structure to brainstorming ideas and offering writing tips. What specifically would you like to know or discuss about writing?”

Copy Edited by Lilly Baumfeld ‘27