While some fear artificial intelligence will enable students to turn in work that they didn’t research and create, Prince William County, Virginia’s public school system is preparing them on how to use the technology that is transforming workplaces and the workforce.
“We’ll be launching Copilot” for high school students, said LaTanya McDade, superintendent of Virginia’s second-largest school system.
“We want our students to be responsible digital citizens — it’s great to have the tools, but we also have to use the tools, responsibly.”
In a WTOP interview outside Colgan High School in Manassas, McDade said AI-powered services, such as ChatGPT and Perplexity, are already available widely on consumer products, including phones.
McDade said Copilot, which was developed as Microsoft’s generative artificial intelligence chatbot, can be used in ways to assist students organize their work.
“They’re already using it outside of the classroom, right, without any levels of education around being responsible,” McDade said. “It’s exciting to me to have them leverage the AI tool, like Copilot, and use it for their actual learning.”
McDade said using Copilot can help enhance and advance learning, “keeping kids curious and teaching them how to problem solve, and ask the right questions, because the thing about AI, it’s all about what you ask of the tool, right?”
AI will also help teachers create lessons that will require students to do their own work.
“AI can give you information, but it can’t think for the student,” McDade said. “The types of lessons that teachers will be able to generate using AI will really promote critical that only students can do.”
‘You don’t get that human feeling’
In a separate interview, senior Kareena Grover said AI is “definitely a big and confusing thing to use, but I’m glad Prince William County Schools is letting us learn how to use it, instead of hiding it away — it’s our future.”
Grover said she is already using AI to help in organizing.
“I’m applying to colleges, and sometimes my organization habits are a little bit iffy,” Grover said “So, I asked ChatGPT to draft me a college applications timeline — it told me when I should be doing my college essay, when I should be doing my extracurriculars portion.”
While critics are concerned that students might try to pass off content created by generative AI as their own, Grover said AI content is easily spotted.
“I mean, ChatGPT is great, it can draft an essay in like three seconds,” said Grover. “But it doesn’t have the voice that humans have, it doesn’t have the same tone and style — you really can tell if it’s made up of ChatGPT or from an actual human.”
If a student were tasked with writing an article or essay, Grover said AI wouldn’t measure up.
“You can ask it to fix grammar or punctuation, but making an essay for yourself, you should just do it,” she suggested. “AI doesn’t have the same voice or tone as a human does, so you don’t get that human feeling.”
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.
© 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
