By Alain Goudey
Historically, many technological advances have been ‘unleashed’ on the world with scant attention paid to educating people on their use and, equally important, making them aware of their potential negative consequences. So, as we work to integrate AI into the fabric of our society, surely a great responsibility lies on the education sector.
Is artificial intelligence making us less intelligent, or can it enhance our capabilities? Can it better equip students for a digital and evolving workforce? The incorporation of AI, including generative AI, is transforming our methods of teaching, learning, and thinking. It empowers educators to customize education, enrich teaching strategies, and broaden the range of human abilities.
AI’s influence extends beyond traditional classrooms, potentially improving learning experiences outside formal educational settings. AI-driven tools can facilitate lifelong learning by providing personalized content tailored to both professional and personal growth. Adaptive learning platforms, for instance, can adjust to a learner’s progress and interests, ensuring that education remains a continuous and engaging experience.
Enhanced and Personalized Educational Content
Some students, known as reflexive learners, thrive when they can contextualize what they’re learning and make connections between ideas. For these learners, AI can generate question-answer systems or brainstorm interesting problems, such as those found in science fiction novels. AI can also offer detailed feedback on initial drafts and provide comprehensive explanations on various topics.
Other students, known as active learners, excel through hands-on activities. For them, AI can create simulations and educational games that provide practical experience in a virtual setting, enhancing comprehension and retention.
AI empowers educators to customize education, enrich teaching strategies, and broaden the range of human abilities.
Interpersonal learners, who learn best through social interactions, benefit from AI’s ability to create virtual learning communities with tutors. AI can propose group activities, moderate discussions, and facilitate role-playing games. Voice assistants and language learning apps are prime examples of these AI-driven tools. They offer interactive language practice, providing real-time corrections and suggestions. These tools can detect nuances in pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary, offering personalized feedback that promotes deeper and more nuanced language learning.
AI Helps Us Surpass Our Limitations
AI can also boost creative intelligence by inspiring innovative thinking, original problem-solving, and the generation of new ideas. Tools like text generators (e.g., ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Claude 3, Mistral Large), photo editors (e.g., Midjourney, Stable Diffusion), and music composition programs (e.g., Suno, Udio) serve as valuable resources. Rather than posing a threat, they can help overcome writer’s block and enrich prose with vocabulary and style suggestions.
In the design field, AI aids in creating innovative products by exploring various configurations while considering sustainability, aesthetics, technical and mechanical constraints, and functionality. For instance, Toyota began using AI last year to design its vehicles, enabling engineers to transcend human imagination and explore unprecedented shapes and structures.
One of the most remarkable features of generative AI is its capacity to process and analyze vast amounts of data with a speed and accuracy far beyond human abilities. Thus, the volume of possible designs is ultimately made of an infinite variety. Moreover, the capability to quickly synthesize information from various sources can offer valuable insights and enhance human decision-making in complex situations, including through the approach of AI-based virtual personas (simulated with the data of a specific segment of customers).
Regarding emotional intelligence, AI can also serve as a significant stimulant. Certain educational apps and platforms can analyze facial expressions and vocal tones to infer a person’s emotional state. Although this may not be easily feasible in Europe due to the AI Act, it can be incredibly useful for preparing individuals for public speaking. These tools help users become more aware of their own emotions and those of others, enabling them to understand and manage these emotions effectively.
Additionally, AI-based simulations and virtual role-playing games are emerging, providing safe environments for learners to experience various social and emotional scenarios. These tools help learners navigate complex interactions and develop skills such as empathy, negotiation, and conflict resolution – challenges that are difficult to replicate in a traditional classroom setting.
By customizing educational content and methods to individual learners, AI can improve the effectiveness of learning experiences and support the development of problem-solving skills. However, we need to balance these advantages with a critical perspective raised by artificial intelligence.
AI Requires a Critical Perspective
Concerns are growing about the potential for over-reliance on AI-generated content, which could diminish human cognitive abilities.
It’s crucial to avoid becoming overly dependent on AI. Concerns are growing about the potential for over-reliance on AI-generated content, which could diminish human cognitive abilities, particularly in writing and problem-solving. As individuals become more accustomed to AI assistance, there’s a risk that certain cognitive skills, traditionally honed through practice and experience, could atrophy. Research indicates that exposure to AI-generated images can lead to design fixation. This was particularly noted in the realm of visual ideation tasks, where individuals exposed to AI-generated images showed a reduced ability to come up with original and varied ideas. This suggests that while AI can assist in generating initial concepts, it might inadvertently constrain the creative process by promoting a certain type of thinking that aligns closely with the patterns recognized and replicated by AI algorithms. This underscores the need to balance AI-generated content with human creativity to prevent stifling original thought.
In education, over-reliance on AI could also result in a decline in interpersonal skills, such as communication and cooperation, which are essential in the professional world. In extreme cases, this might lead to emotional dependence on virtual entities, a phenomenon already observed in China, where millions of users seek AI assistants for comfort, advice, and emotional support available around the clock.
The integration of AI in education raises other concerns as well. One major issue is managing the data generated by students using these platforms. This data, which includes personal information, must be collected, stored, and analyzed following strict protocols to ensure compliance with GDPR and the upcoming AI Act.
Another concern is the potential biases that AI can reproduce and amplify. Since AI algorithms are created by humans and based on selected data, there’s a risk of losing critical perspectives and homogenizing viewpoints globally. The use of generative AI in educational settings also raises the potential for algorithmic bias and the facilitation of academic dishonesty through contract cheating with AI. These issues pose significant challenges to the integrity of problem-solving assessments and the overall educational process.
It is essential for humans to develop a new form of intelligence to understand how AI functions and to maintain a critical perspective on this technology. We must not take the average responses from AI at face value; instead, we should refine and improve them. Studies consistently show that a collaboration between humans and AI is the most effective approach.
Furthermore, there is a risk of inequality in access to AI-enhanced education. Advanced technologies should not be exclusive to institutions with ample resources, as this would exacerbate existing societal inequalities. It is crucial to ensure equitable access to these technologies to avoid widening the gap between different segments of society.
AI Raises Questions About the Real and Deep Impact on Human Brains
The integration of AI into daily life and professional environments raises important questions about its long-term effects on human cognitive abilities. One significant concern is the potential decline in brain power and the atrophy of specific cognitive skills, particularly those related to writing and problem-solving.
It is essential for humans to develop a new form of intelligence to understand how AI functions and maintain a critical perspective on this technology.
As AI becomes more prevalent, there is a risk that individuals may become overly reliant on these technologies for tasks that traditionally required active mental engagement. For example, AI tools like text generators (e.g., ChatGPT, Google Gemini) can produce coherent and contextually relevant written content with minimal human input. While this can be highly efficient, it might lead to reduced practice in critical writing skills. Without the need to engage deeply in the writing process, individuals may find their ability to construct well-thought-out arguments, structure complex ideas, and employ nuanced language deteriorating over time.
Moreover, problem-solving skills, which are honed through continuous practice and critical thinking, could also suffer. AI systems can quickly generate solutions to complex problems, offering convenience but potentially reducing the opportunities for individuals to develop their problem-solving abilities. The ease of obtaining ready-made solutions might discourage the kind of deep, analytical thinking necessary for tackling complex issues independently. This phenomenon can be likened to the effects seen in other areas where technology has supplanted traditional skills, such as the decline in navigational abilities due to GPS reliance. Due to the heavy use of digital, people don’t like the frustration of waiting for too long. AI will exacerbate this phenomenon with another deep impact on time perception, augmenting in return an increasing speed expected for doing something.
Another concern with the widespread use of AI is the increased cognitive load due to the vast amount of information it can process and present to users. AI systems are capable of synthesizing data from numerous sources at an unprecedented speed, providing users with a continuous flow of information. While this can be beneficial in many contexts, it also poses challenges related to cognitive overload and overstimulation.
The human brain has a limited capacity for processing information at any given time. When AI tools constantly deliver new data, users may find themselves struggling to manage and prioritize this influx. This can lead to cognitive fatigue, where the mental effort required to filter, interpret, and respond to information becomes overwhelming. Such overstimulation can negatively impact attention, memory, and overall cognitive function, as the brain is forced to switch frequently between tasks and handle more information than it can comfortably process.
Moreover, the detailed and nuanced information provided by AI systems can create a pressure to constantly focus on minutiae. This perpetual attention to detail, while beneficial for precision tasks, can be mentally exhausting and detract from the ability to see the bigger picture. It can also reduce the time and mental energy available for reflective thinking, strategic planning, and other higher-order cognitive processes that are crucial for long-term decision-making and innovation.
To mitigate these effects, it is essential to develop strategies for managing AI-driven information loads. This might include setting boundaries for AI usage, prioritizing tasks, and ensuring regular breaks to allow the brain to rest and recover. Additionally, fostering digital literacy and critical-thinking skills can help individuals navigate the complexities of AI-generated information, enabling them to use these tools effectively without becoming overwhelmed. And that’s why we need to train widely in the use of AI and GenAI technology.
AI is the Challenge of the Decade for Education
As AI transforms various industries, education systems must prepare students for an AI-driven workforce. This includes not only teaching technical skills related to AI and data science but also fostering skills like critical thinking, creativity, emotional intelligence, and an effective (but nondestructive for the brain) use of AI. Curriculum development should emphasize interdisciplinary approaches, integrating AI literacy across subjects to equip students for diverse career paths.
As AI transforms various industries, education systems must prepare students for an AI-driven workforce.
Educators will need to adapt to new roles as facilitators and mentors in an AI-enhanced educational landscape. This requires developing new skills to effectively incorporate AI tools into teaching strategies while maintaining a balance between technology use and human interaction. Professional development programs focused on AI literacy and pedagogical innovation will be essential.
It is also crucial to educate users about the potential risks and benefits of generative AI tools and to promote responsible usage. Maximizing the positive impact of these technologies while minimizing potential drawbacks requires striking a balance between AI-generated content and human interaction. This ensures that students and professionals develop strong problem-solving skills without becoming overly dependent on AI systems. Achieving this balance globally is a complex task that necessitates specific training for every educator.
As society integrates generative AI into various domains of learning, work, and creativity, it is vital to implement it thoughtfully and strategically. By fostering a balanced approach that combines the strengths of human cognition with AI capabilities, we can aim for a future where generative AI enhances and augments human cognitive processes rather than replacing them.
The successful integration of generative AI into human thinking and problem-solving will depend on our ability to harness its potential while preserving and nurturing the uniquely human aspects of cognition that drive innovation, creativity, and critical thinking.
Alain Goudey
