Aliya Corne

Error code after student searches up ChatGPT.com.

It’s been done: they have officially blocked ChatGPT on our iPads. Though to some students this might be seen as a positive, others are certainly not happy about this.

The blocking personally came as a surprise because of the past connection between the two companies. OpenAI—the company that owns ChatGPT—gave $15 billion to the parent company of Securly, Golden Gate Capital, which may be why ChatGPT was one of the few non-blocked AI companies on our iPads. However, this recent blocking does spark questions of whether the two companies have split ties.

Students shared their personal feelings about this blocking. Josiah Salazar (‘27) explained his feelings on this blocking as a “cry,” because he finds himself using AI for revisions in his classes. On the contrary, Mason Hall’s (‘28) feels “overwhelmed with joy,” as he has never used AI on an assignment he turned in. He will “refuse to use it for the rest of his life in every way he can”

Students without the app are left with very few unblocked AI companies. One popular one is Gemini, an app very similar to ChatGPT. Interestingly, when typed into the search browser, it automatically takes you to Gemini signed into your St. Vrain Account. To be warned, this is not your typical account; it has about half the features. For example, the created image and deep research have been removed.

This is likely due to Securly, since, on their website, they show that they can “Filter and Monitor student AI prompts.” Additionally, when you open the tab to change an account, it comes with a pop-up that says “this account is managed by SVVSD,” indicating that they have this feature in place.

That being said, this blocking is not affecting everyone. The individuals who have the ChatGPT app on the iPad can still it as only the website is currently blocked.

This is all kind of up in the air: what is Securly going to do next? For now, we’ll likely see most AI-using students, without the app downloaded, on Gemini or finding new workarounds to this new blocking.