I teach in a continuing education program for teachers. One of the participants asked me why she couldn’t use AI to help her write an assignment. “I’ll put down my thoughts in points and ask AI to generate paragraphs. As they’re essentially my thoughts, using AI saves time.” What this participant does not realize is that the act of connecting thoughts is itself thought that can engender further thought. By outsourcing this process to AI, we forsake the opportunity of building more connections and gaining clarity on a topic.
In an article in The Guardian (8 Aug), Katherine Rundell writes about the impact of AI on developing minds by “halting learning before it can take flight.” She cites research that shows that people who were first given “10 minutes of AI-assisted problem-solving” tended to give up sooner and made more errors when the bot was taken away from them. In contrast, people in the control group who did not first use AI, tended to persevere for longer and made fewer errors.
Process vs. Product
Writing, like other forms of learning, is a process that cannot be equated with the products that emerge from it. Whether it’s an essay, a term paper, a thesis or even a short message, writing involves a series of steps. An intention to write has to translate into putting thoughts down and weaving them into a narrative that makes sense, both to the writer and potential readers. It involves assessing the choice of words, the tone, the emphasis, and the transparency of meaning to different readers. Not to mention the rereading of your own writing to evaluate its clarity while eliminating syntax, spelling or stylistic errors.
Our dependence on digital devices has fragmented attention spans and eroded our reading ability, especially of digital natives. If we allow students to use AI for writing, both facets of literacy will be endangered. Student essays may be lucid and flawless; the only hitch is that their writing may have no bearing on their thought processes or who they are as people. Is that the goal of education? To submit elegant prose and coherent arguments that aren’t our own?
Rundell says that AI is touted to make “learning more efficient.” But is “an efficient childhood” the goal of education? Do we want students to pass off as articulate while they’re being inauthentic? She gives the example of training for a marathon to drive home this point. If the marathon is from Place A to B, you start by running short stretches while gradually increasing the distance. While taking a bus may be the most efficient way to get from Place A to B, a bus ride will not help you build your muscles or stamina.
We’ve all been students and we’ve taken shortcuts. Whether it’s relying on a guidebook instead of a textbook or writing an essay based on a book summary, many of us have succumbed under pressure. That’s why it’s unfair for us to put the onus on young people to resist the pull of AI when it’s literally at their fingertips.
Substituting the long-form essay with in-person, proctored exams like many universities are doing is also not the answer. As Rundell says, the essay is a tried-and-tested “method of thinking.” The act of writing goes beyond jotting down ideas as the process of writing can expand, hone, transform existing thoughts while spawning new ones.
Give the amount of AI slop that’s being churned out, it’s essential that we cultivate discerning readers and compelling writers. If we depend increasingly on AI to do our thinking for us, we’re paving the path to our extinction.
Different modes of thinking
While AI may be used judiciously for enhancing learning in various situations, students need to understand that writing engenders modes of thinking that cannot be fostered by speech. By its very nature, writing is slower, more deliberate and reflective allowing for the formation of complex thoughts and nuanced arguments. Every time students turn to AI for writing, Descartes oft-quoted maxim, “I think, therefore I am” may serve as a statutory warning. Should we allow AI to wipe out our personhood?
As educators, we have a responsibility to enable students to be read critically and write cogently. We need to exercise collective effort to prevent AI from eroding these life-altering skills in students.
About the Author
The author is Visiting Faculty, School of Education, Azim Premji University & the co-author of Bee-witched.