“AI is coming for your jobs. Heck it’s coming for my job too,” Fiverr CEO Micha Kaufman warned on X earlier this week.
He then went on to map out the way he thinks AI has changed the rules of the workplace: “what was once considered ‘easy tasks’ will no longer exist; what was considered ‘hard tasks’ will be the new easy, and what was considered ‘impossible tasks’ will be the new hard.”
Kaufman’s view echoes my thoughts on AI. When ChatGPT arrived on the scene two years ago, an adult student of mine who worked as an English teacher at a local secondary school in Hong Kong exclaimed, “I’m not even confident that I can write as well as ChatGPT!” She had a point. If, with AI as a crutch, anyone can, in a matter of seconds, churn out reasonably coherent texts free of grammatical errors, students have to do more to stand out, meaning teachers who focus on grammar, vocab, and sentence structure – the time-honored way of teaching English in Hong Kong – may not be able to add much value.
As of today, the feedback I can provide for my students is, I think, still several steps ahead of AI. Yet because AI will keep on playing catch-up, I honestly don’t know how much longer I can keep my lead. Five years? Ten years? What I do know is, if I do get replaced by AI one day, I hope I will be among the last group(s) of folks to suffer this fate.
Here’s a student’s piece, followed by ChatGPT’s rewrite and then my own version. ChatGPT does a pretty good job of filling in background information. I’m even better at supplying context, but in addition, my version also beats ChatGPT hands down on the style front.
Student
On November 14, 1960, six year-old Ruby Bridges became the first African American girl to attend the all-white public William Frantz Elementary School. She experienced racism at the school every day. Her presence was so resented that the parents of some of her classmates pulled them out of school. Among the staff only one teacher was willing to teach her. The first year Ruby was at the school she was the only student in class. Over time, however, many families started to put they’re children back in school and the protest and civil disturbances stopped. When the next year came, federal marshals were no longer needed to escort her everywhere. At present, she is 70 years old and a civil rights activist.
ChatGPT’s rewrite
Ruby Bridges was the first African American child to integrate an all-white elementary school in the American South. On November 14, 1960, at just six years old, she bravely walked into William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans, Louisiana, escorted by four federal marshals. This historic event followed a federal court order mandating the desegregation of public schools, part of the broader civil rights movement aimed at ending racial segregation in the United States.
Ruby faced intense racism and hostility from the moment she arrived at the school. Crowds of angry white protesters gathered outside daily, shouting slurs, threatening her, and even throwing objects. Many white parents pulled their children out of the school in protest. As a result, Ruby was the only student in her first-grade classroom for most of the school year. Only one teacher, Barbara Henry, agreed to teach her, and she did so with unwavering dedication.
Despite the hatred and danger, Ruby showed remarkable courage and resilience. With time, the protests began to fade, and some families started sending their children back to school. By the second year, Ruby no longer needed federal protection to attend class. The hostile atmosphere gradually eased, and she was finally able to learn alongside other students.
Ruby Bridges’ bravery helped pave the way for greater equality in American education. As an adult, she became a prominent civil rights activist, sharing her story to educate and inspire future generations. Today, she is recognized as a symbol of courage, perseverance, and the ongoing struggle for racial justice in the United States.
My rewrite
When Ruby Bridges (1954-) was six years old, she shared something common in with President Trump.
Just as President Trump doesn’t go anywhere without four or five Secret Service agents escorting him, the first year Ruby attended her elementary school, she was likewise surrounded by a handful of federal marshals whenever she went.
Ruby was given such special treatment because she was the very first black child to attend an all-white elementary school in New Orleans, at a time when the Civil Rights Movement was gathering force. She had to receive special protection because mobs stationed themselves outside the school to protest against her attendance. Her status as a student was to arouse so much fury that her dad lost his job at the gas station, and her grandparents were no longer allowed to farm on their land. Her parents eventually separated due to the stress.
So, what drove Ruby’s parents to send her to the school? Her mum was the driving force. Just as Neil Armstrong saw his first landing on the moon as “one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind,” her mum thought Ruby should “”take this step forward for all African-American children.” The parents of other students didn’t see the issue the same way; they pulled their children out of the school in protest.
One white person at the school had to risk her life like Ruby. She was Barbara Henry, the only teacher willing to teach Ruby. For a whole year, she and Ruby were the only people in the entire classroom.
After graduation, Ruby worked as a travel agent and later became the mother of four children. Today, she is one of the symbols of the Civil Rights Movement, having received honors from countless universities and organisations.
Today, Ruby is still at that elementary school her parents sent her to. She watches over her old school in the form of a statue. There is no longer any need to hire personnel to protect this “Ruby” now, for racial segregation has very much become a thing of the past.
Michelle Ng
英國牛津大學畢業，前《蘋果日報》和《眾新聞》專欄作家，現在身在楓葉國，心繫中國大陸和香港。
聯絡方式： michelleng.coach@proton.me
個人網站： https://michellengwritings.com
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