What is it about?
This study looks at how ChatGPT behaves when it is asked to take part in a formal debate. We wanted to see whether it can argue for or against a topic in a clear and organized way, respond to opposing views, and even judge which side made the stronger case. The results show that the system can produce structured arguments and counterarguments when it receives careful instructions. At the same time, it may gradually move away from the main issue during longer exchanges. The paper helps readers understand both the possibilities and the limits of using AI tools in activities such as classroom debates and critical discussion.
Featured Image
Photo by Volodymyr Hryshchenko on Unsplash
Why is it important?
This paper explores whether ChatGPT can take part in structured argumentative debates and whether it can also evaluate who presents the stronger case. The study examines how specific instructions help the system maintain a coherent and flowing debate. The findings show that ChatGPT can generate logical arguments and counterarguments and can function effectively in a competitive rhetorical setting when guided properly. However, during longer exchanges it may drift from the main topic unless it is clearly assigned a judging role. Overall, the study discusses how such AI-supported debates could be used in educational contexts to strengthen argumentative skills and rhetorical thinking.
Perspectives
Working on this publication felt like entering an unfamiliar rhetorical space and observing how a machine behaves when placed inside a structured debate. What interested me most was not whether ChatGPT could “win,” but how it reasoned, how it shifted position, and how it responded under argumentative pressure. The process made me reflect on the nature of dialogue itself and on what we consider persuasive, coherent, or intellectually responsible speech. I hope readers approach the paper with the same curiosity, seeing it as an invitation to rethink how argumentation, authorship, and critical thinking may evolve in the presence of generative systems.
Adj. Prof. Konstantinos Mastrothanasis
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Artificial Intelligence and Rhetorical Art: Argumentative Debate with ChatGPT, International Journal of Modern Education and Computer Science, February 2026, MECS Publisher,
DOI: 10.5815/ijmecs.2026.01.03.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
