What Bristol students ChatGPTed last year and what it says about us

From relationship advice to questions bordering on the absurd, ChatGPT has evolved from being used only for academic help. For some, it has slowly become a digital diary, keeping our confessions under wraps. It answers judgment-free what we may be too embarrassed, overwhelmed, or under-qualified to admit… Why humiliate yourself by asking a flatmate, ‘How many times do people really wash their hair?’, when ChatGPT can tell you? Here is the collective ChatGPT Wrapped 2026 for the University of Bristol students. 

 “Make this sound academic.” 

We have all asked ChatGPT at least once for essay help. If you have not, congrats – you really are better than the rest of us and don’t you know it. We concur that occasionally asking for help is fine and it likely means you save yourself from time wasting in the ASS, writing the essay you left last minute once again. But if you are asking ChatGPT to make your work sound more human or write the essay for you, I fear your intellect is declining at a worrying rate and the university has a spot waiting for you on the Academic Integrity Awareness Course. Remember, when you graduate, your diploma will only bear your name, not ChatGPT’s. 

“How do I know whether to end it with my almost 3-month situationship or not?” 

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Whether it is the situationship you met on a Wednesday night Fishies, or the course-cest that bloomed into something more, it can be tough ending it without wondering what could’ve been. This prompt, however, suggests that you tend to overthink everything and are unable to make your own decisions. Instead of using your own judgment or talking to friends, you have decided to trust an algorithm to solve your heartbreak. Maybe you are choosing to avoid bothering your friends with your indecisiveness for the millionth time and looking for an artificially intelligent, unbiased response, or maybe it is 2 am, and you’re confused on the Triangle (and it’s time to go home). 

“Make a summary of these readings.” “More summarised.” “Even more summarised.”

How many times have you shown up to a seminar without having done the readings? More times than you would like to admit. Now your professor is calling on the cohort, and you are facing the consequences of your actions. Luckily, ChatGPT can conjure up something on the spot for you to waffle about, and you are off the hook. Perhaps it is time for a 2026 rebrand and a personal reckoning with how many VKs drunk in La Rocca could have been traded for productivity.  

“Is this a hangover or am I dying?”

You have officially hit rock bottom (but it is okay because we have all been there). Although it cannot replace an appointment at the student health services, it can give us an initial peace of mind when we start to spiral, until it diagnoses us with 5 illnesses and 7 days left to live. It can also help when we are too embarrassed to ask friends whether it’s just a minor rash or if you have managed to bring another wave of Bristol scabies 2.0. Please keep all scabies at home before returning for TB2, thank you. 

“Write an email to my tutor to apologise for my absences.” 

What this says about you, single-handedly, relies on what your excuse may be. Will you confess to your academic laziness and promise on your life that you will do better next term? Or will you make up a fifth “doctor’s appointment” this month, one which you and your tutor know never happened? For your sake, let’s hope your lecturer does not catch you doing your weekly shop at Clifton Down Sainsbury’s while looking perfectly healthy. Perhaps I am assuming the worst, and you truly missed your seminars for valid reasons. You know, taking accountability is important, but you’d rather it come from ChatGPT’s mouth instead of yours. Very sincere of you.

“How much of my degree is this assignment worth?” 

Finally, we have the student who is part economist, part procrastinator, and 100% invested in minimising effort while maximising marks. Turns out risk assessment may not only be for finance students. It screams you are here to survive university, not to philosophise the meaning of life in 2500 words. You are no longer in the first year where marks “do not count”, so maybe it is time to shape up and stop sharking on freshers in Brass Pig. Let’s not forget we’re paying to be here, and yes, that was your choice.  

In all seriousness, it is important to consider the environmental impacts of overusing ChatGPT. Make your own judgment on whether ChatGPT really needs to hear about the downfall of your academic career or if you could talk to your personal tutor instead. Our human autonomy should be embraced, so, let AI help us think, not do the thinking for us.