AI Creates the Message: Integrating AI Language Learning Models into Social Work Education and Practice

ChatGPT, the OpenAI language model, has been making waves in the world of technology and education. While its ability to generate human-like responses has been praised by some, others have raised concerns about its effect on social work education and the ethical considerations surrounding its use. In this editorial, we will explore the pros and cons of ChatGPT in social work education; provide recommendations for using ChatGPT in teaching, research, and practice; and suggest a possible future for social work with artificial intellience (AI).

The title of this editorial, “AI Creates the Message,” is a reference to the past and the future. In 2014, the  Journal of Social Work Education  published an editorial called “The Medium is the Message” about the possibilities that social media held for “radical changes in [social work] education” (Robbins & Singer,  Citation2014 , p. 387). That title was itself a reference to Marshal McLuhan’s famous 1964 proclamation about the importance of understanding and thinking critically about mediums used to communicate messages, not just the messages themselves.