Bonus Edition: What’s the Deal with ChatGPT Agents?
A First Look at the Tool Everyone Will Be Talking About
You’re going to be hearing a lot in the coming weeks about something called ChatGPT Agents, and I wanted to give you a heads-up, especially since it has the potential to significantly impact educators, librarians, and students.
To be clear: I haven’t had access to this new feature yet, and it’s only available right now to select users—specifically those who pay for ChatGPT Plus, Team, or Enterprise plans. That includes students who personally subscribe to ChatGPT Plus, meaning some of our learners may already be experimenting with it independently.
📽️ What Is a ChatGPT Agent?
If you’re a visual learner, start here:
Watch this 6-minute video explainer on ChatGPT Agents
This short demo shows how ChatGPT can now act, not just answer. It can search the web, summarize articles, run code, organize files, and even create presentations—all by completing multi-step tasks you assign it.
What Could This Mean for Educators and Librarians?
For Educators
Create lesson plans, quizzes, and scaffolds tailored to your content
Pull research and citations in real time
Automate repetitive tasks like feedback, differentiation, or slide design
For Librarians
Build annotated bibliographies or themed book lists
Summarize PDFs or academic sources
Generate research guides and citation how-tos
Use it as a digital literacy teaching tool
What Might Students Do With It?
Because students who pay for ChatGPT Plus already will have access, it's essential to think about how they might be using these capabilities:
Automate full assignments: research, writing, citations, and even formatting
Use agents for “peer feedback” or essay improvements
Plan and track group projects or study schedules
Summarize readings they don’t want to actually read
Create full presentations without understanding the source content
While some of this can support learning, it also raises big questions about academic honesty, skill development, and student accountability.
Ethical Considerations
Key concerns to keep in mind:
Inaccuracy & hallucinations: Agents may cite fake or misread sources
Bias: Content reflects gaps in training data
Student privacy: Data input may not be protected under laws like FERPA
Equity: Only students who can afford it will benefit, widening tech gaps
Overreliance: Too much help can undermine students' ability to think and write for themselves
Want to Learn More?
Final Thoughts
ChatGPT Agents mark a major shift—from interacting with AI to assigning it real tasks. We need to be ready for the possibilities and the pitfalls, especially since some of our students already have this in their hands.
I’ll share more once I’ve had a chance to try it myself, but for now, this is your early look into what’s coming—and a reminder that we have a critical role in shaping how these tools are used in schools and libraries.
If you want to dive deeper into the tools, strategies, and ethical challenges of AI in education, check out my new book:
📘 AI in the Library: Strategies, Tools, and Ethics for Today’s Schools
Seen ChatGPT Agents in action? Let me know—I’d love to hear what’s happening in your classrooms and libraries.