If a student uses AI to do the work for them, rather than to do the work with them, there’s not going to be much learning. No learning occurs unless the brain is actively engaged in making meaning and sense of what you’re trying to learn, and this is not going to occur if you just ask ChatGPT, “Give me the answer to the question that the instructor is asking.”

Many students use AI without a good understanding of how it works in a computational/Bayesian sense, and this leads to putting too much confidence in its output. So, teaching them to be critical and discerning about how they use it and what it offers is important. But even more important is helping them understand how their embodied human minds work and how powerful they can be when used well.

A recent MIT Media Lab study reported that “excessive reliance on AI-driven solutions” may contribute” to “cognitive atrophy” and shrinking of critical thinking abilities. The study is small and is not peer-reviewed, and yet it delivers a warning that even artificial intelligence assistants are willing to acknowledge. When we asked ChatGPT whether AI can make us dumber or smarter, it answered, “It depends on how we engage with it: as a crutch or a tool for growth.”

AI literacy

LLMs

statistical adjustments