The widespread usage of computer-based assessments and individualized
learning platforms has resulted in an increased demand for the rapid production
of high-quality items. Automated item generation (AIG), the process of using
item models to generate new items with the help of computer technology, was
proposed to reduce reliance on human subject experts at each step of the
process. AIG has been used in test development for some time. Still, the use of
machine learning algorithms has introduced the potential to improve the
efficiency and effectiveness of the process greatly. The approach presented in
this paper utilizes OpenAI's latest transformer-based language model, GPT-3, to
generate reading passages. Existing reading passages were used in carefully
engineered prompts to ensure the AI-generated text has similar content and
structure to a fourth-grade reading passage. For each prompt, we generated
multiple passages, the final passage was selected according to the Lexile score
agreement with the original passage. In the final round, the selected passage
went through a simple revision by a human editor to ensure the text was free of
any grammatical and factual errors. All AI-generated passages, along with
original passages were evaluated by human judges according to their coherence,
appropriateness to fourth graders, and readability