Is This the Singularity for Standardized Tests?

Last fall, when generative AI abruptly started turning out competent high-school- and college-level writing, some educators saw it as an opportunity. Perhaps it was time, at last, to dispose of the five-paragraph essay, among other bad teaching practices that have lingered for generations. Universities and colleges convened emergency town halls before winter terms began to discuss how large language models might reshape their work, for better and worse.

But just as quickly, most of those efforts evaporated into the reality of normal life. Educators and administrators have so many problems to address even before AI enters the picture; the prospect of utterly redesigning writing education and assessment felt impossible. touting its capacities. Among them: taking tests. AIs are no longer just producing passable five-paragraph essays. Now they’re excelling at the SAT, “earning” a score of 1410. They’re getting passing grades on more than a dozen different AP exams. They’re doing well enough on bar exams to be licensed as lawyers.