The AI Desk · Story 5
Let that sink in.
A popular Reddit post in r/ChatGPT imagines a student telling their parent 'I have to write a ten-page paper,' and a parent responding 'How? Paper wasn't even invented yet.' The post implies that future generations will find past academic practices incomprehensible. It has received nearly 7,000 upvotes and over 240 comments.
The post taps into ongoing anxiety about AI's role in education and whether reliance on tools like ChatGPT is weakening students' critical thinking.
Key details
- The post in r/ChatGPT shows a fictional exchange where a student says they need to write a ten-page paper and a parent asks 'How? Paper wasn't even invented yet.'
- The post has a score of 6,972 and generated 242 comments as of June 9, 2026.
- The attached image depicts the fictional dialogue.
- No additional article context was provided with the submission.
Discussion angles
- Several commenters argue that dismissing the scenario as unrealistic ignores current student behavior: high schoolers already rely on AI for assignments.
- A high school teacher commenter confirms that many students cannot imagine completing assignments without AI, supporting the post's premise.
- Some users contend the post is an 'imaginary argument' and that no student has ever actually said such a thing.
- One commenter believed the phrase 'nobody in history has ever said this' trivializes real concerns about AI use in education.
- The metaphor of 'paper not being invented' is used to compare the current AI revolution to past technological shifts in writing.
Top comments
The top comments are sharply divided: some accuse the post of inventing a strawman, while others, including a teacher, argue it accurately reflects the AI dependency they see in today's students.