Could ChatGPT Do This Overnight If…?
Source: Educating AI / Nick Potkalitsky Substack
Author: Nick Potkalitsky
Published: 2025-08-06
Source type: essay
Original source: https://nickpotkalitsky.substack.com/p/could-chatgpt-do-this-overnight-if
Private backup: the full article text is archived in the private repository at archives/articles/nickpotkalitsky-substack-com-could-chatgpt-do-this-overnight-if.source.md. It is not published on the public Quartz site.
Summary
Nick Potkalitsky argues that the right response to AI-vulnerable assignments is not prohibition but redesign. If students can paste an assignment into ChatGPT and receive a finished product, the task needs to become a richer learning experience where AI supports rather than replaces thinking. The article offers six redesign filters: human/place anchors, visible process, multimodal output, collaboration and negotiation, ethical reflection, and competency lift. Each filter reframes AI as a thinking partner while preserving student agency, evidence of process, human interaction, and authentic constraints.
Pull quotes
The assignment redesign question
“If AI can complete this task in seconds, is it still worth assigning?”
Enhance without stealing the thinking
“We’re not trying to outsmart machines. We’re trying to design learning where AI can enhance the work without stealing away the thinking.”
Make AI part of visible process
“When we design for transparency, AI becomes part of the documented thinking process rather than a hidden shortcut.”
Big ideas
- Learning still needs some struggle, even when AI can make things easier
- Students need to bring the purpose; AI should not supply it for them
- Schools should start with learning values before choosing AI tools
Claims
- AI-assisted homework requires redesign, not just policing
- Learning requires some productive struggle that AI can remove
Key evidence and examples
- Examples include a local water-quality investigation using student-collected samples and AI-supported research.
- A persuasive essay portfolio requires drafts, revision notes, and documented AI use or rejection.
- A book trailer assignment includes filmed scenes, AI-generated music, and live pitching.
- Other examples involve real budgets, scheduling, interviews, survey data, negotiation, and presentation to authentic audiences.
Education relevance
Highly relevant for assignment design, AI policy implementation, assessment redesign, visible-process pedagogy, authentic learning, project-based learning, and teacher professional development.
Durability note
The exact capabilities of ChatGPT will change, but the redesign question is durable: assignments should make student thinking visible when AI can produce the surface product quickly.