I think you might be on the right track to focus on formal logic for the most advanced use cases.

Even for the more general population (like in grade school level curricula) teaching effective communication by having the student ask the right questions/prompts, using the results to produce useful follow-up prompts, etc. are skills teachers already have and overlap with what a traditional essay accomplishes.

This is exactly my point. A user will still need to get the data they want from whatever the modern tool is, and it will be a form of "prompt", even as that form evolves. Understanding the best way to use the modern tools was my point (as with the calculator analogy).

It's about teaching the student critical thinking and inventiveness to reduce "garbage in" and increase "gold out".

I wasn't suggesting to "teach them a process", but more agreeing with what you had said on focusing on the goal of education.

I'm saying, understanding how to effectively use the modern tools available and having the critical thinking to reach the result you need is one possible evolution of straight essay-writing I see.

That's a cool article, but it's from March.

I'm wondering if Chat-GPT released since then finally meets the condition. This was a very busy year for AI research.

Yes, the form of test would have to adapt. Instead of "write an essay that ...," it would be more like "which prompts can you use to resolve the problem(s) of...?"

Edit to clarify:

Got a few replies (and downvotes) that make me want to pull up and clarify here that I mean this in a way in which critical thinking and inventiveness is still front and center in the skills being taught, not a mechanical "process".

There will always be a need for a user/student to know how to get the data they want from whatever the modern tool is, and it will be a form of "prompt", even as that form evolves. Understanding the best way to use the modern tools was my point (as with the calculator analogy and math problems).