Nearly four in five Australian adult students said that they use AI in their studies. Figures in other parts of the world are alarmingly higher. In the United Kingdom, a survey carried out by Jason M. Lodge and Leslie Loble showed that 94% of university students reported using AI for their homework or assignments.
Educators wonder how many learners cheat on exams and work by using AI. The authors of the British study said the following about AI use and sustainable, deep learning:
“There is a growing body of evidence that using AI can short-circuit the cognitive effort required for sustainable, deep learning, with potentially long-term consequences. This cognitive offloading from human to AI is especially risky for school students (‘novice’ learners who are building foundational knowledge and skills) when they turn to AI as a tempting substitute, not an amplifier, increase their dependency on the tool and lose access to deeper learning and critical thinking capabilities. It also introduces extra equity risks for disadvantaged students.”
Impact of AI on long-term learning
Educators across the world are finding that AI can help university and high-school learners’ short-term achievement. However, it also undermines their long-term learning. We refer to this phenomenon as the performance paradox.
In a Turkish study, Hamsa Bastani, Osbert Bastani, Alp Sungu, and Rei Mariman found that generative AI helped high-school students perform better; it was a useful tool. However, they also found that artificial intelligence can make it much harder for students to acquire crucial long-term skills. The authors wrote:
“While generative AI tools such as ChatGPT can make tasks significantly easier for humans, they come with the risk of deteriorating our ability to effectively learn some of the skills required to solve these tasks.”
To a certain extent, mathematical calculators can give us this illusion of competence, but they also reduce our ability to use basic math properly, such as times tables and doing calculations in our heads.
The defenders of calculators praised the new ‘modern devices’ of the time by saying “So what? As calculators will be available to us all of the time, perhaps we do not need to learn the basics. They certainly help us work faster and with fewer mistakes.”
We’re entering an era of rapidly growing AI usage
Doesn’t the same apply to AI? If it will always be available, surely we should focus on using it to the best of our abilities rather than trying to keep up cognitively.
Educators, especially traditional teachers and professors, worry that because of AI use, their students are less likely to check, plan, or monitor their work. Why bother if their generative AI is doing everything so well?
If the AI is always available, as a car is for transportation, does it matter if AI-generated responses erode their actual knowledge base? If I have a car and have learned to be a good driver, does it matter if I am unable to walk rapidly for more than a couple of miles?
Teachers and professors need to show students how AI can be a great partner in thinking and learning, and not treat it as simply an “instant answer tool.”
