Dave Eggers Tells OpenAI Staff ChatGPT is Catastrophic for Education

Sam Altman rolled the dice when he invited Dave Eggers to speak to around 200 OpenAI staffers last year. The acclaimed author, known for novels like The Circle, screenplays, journalism, and founding McSweeney’s literary magazine, clearly wasn’t there to offer tips on productivity hacks or how to scale creativity. Instead, according to the Financial Times, Eggers used the platform to deliver a pointed critique of what artificial intelligence has done to education.

“The effect of ChatGPT on educators’ lives is catastrophic,” Eggers told the room. “Whether you intended to do it or not, you’ve made every teacher’s life infinitely more difficult than it was two years ago.”

That’s the diplomatic opening. He didn’t stop there.

The Writing Crisis

Eggers went deeper, zeroing in on what he sees as the real tragedy: students using AI to compose their own work. “If students are using it to compose, which is the biggest tragedy of all, they’ll never learn to write,” he said. “And their voice is stolen from them. They’ll never have the ability to say their truth and tell their own story. And that’s silencing an entire generation or two.”

It’s a sobering perspective from someone who has dedicated much of his career to championing writers and the written word. Through his various nonprofits and schools supporting young writers, Eggers has seen firsthand what happens when people learn to write from scratch. Now he’s watching that fundamental learning process get short-circuited.

The concern isn’t just academic hand-wringing either. Teachers across the country have reported struggling with how to assign essays and compositions when students can generate polished text in seconds. Plagiarism detection software is playing catch-up. Grading standards are shifting. And beneath it all is the question Eggers is asking: are we sacrificing authentic voice and genuine learning on the altar of efficiency?

No Surprise Here

That said, Altman likely knew exactly what he was inviting into his offices. Eggers’ bestselling novel The Circle is essentially a dystopian warning about the tech industry’s unchecked ambitions and surveillance culture. He’s previously called AI-generated writing “pastiche nonsense,” so this wasn’t a sudden pivot to tech criticism. Altman appears to have given a known skeptic a platform anyway, which either suggests confidence in his position or a genuine openness to hearing dissenting views.

What’s interesting is that education technology has always promised to enhance learning, yet here we are with a tool that might actually undermine one of the most fundamental skills students develop. Unlike calculators, which still require understanding mathematical concepts, or search engines, which still require synthesis and critical thinking, ChatGPT can produce seemingly complete written work with minimal intellectual engagement from the student.

Eggers’ critique cuts to something deeper than just cheating or plagiarism. He’s talking about voice, authenticity, and the struggle that makes writing valuable in the first place. When you learn to write, you’re not just learning grammar and syntax. You’re learning to think, to articulate your unique perspective, to find your truth. That process is inherently difficult. It requires revision, rejection, frustration, and breakthrough moments. An AI that can skip directly to the finished product isn’t just a shortcut; it’s a bypass of the entire learning journey.

The question now is whether OpenAI, and the broader tech industry, will genuinely reckon with critiques like Eggers’, or whether the efficiency gains and market opportunities will simply steamroll forward. One talk to 200 staffers, however pointed, isn’t likely to shift corporate strategy. But it’s a reminder that not everyone in the room is sold on the transformative promise of these tools, and some are genuinely worried about what we’re losing in the rush to automate everything.

Source: Financial Times