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Professors Say AI Is Destroying Their Students' Ability to Think (futurism.com)
submitted 4 months ago by to c/fuck_ai@lemmy.world
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[+] -6 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Is it though? Like is it really? I have not seen a credible study yet and from at least my personal experience and those around me, it seems like it helps people learn better?

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  • [–] 11 points 4 months ago (2 children)

    Teacher here. It's not that they can't think, its that they don't want the take the time to think and learn.

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago (3 children)

    Nothing new there.

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  • [–] 3 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    True, but the resistance to think is more than it was ten years ago when I started teaching.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago (1 child)

    Yes, the so-called AI, they even may believe it can think for themselves.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago (1 child)

    It can think for itself of course, just not to the level most humans can yet but it has for sure been slowly improving. Unsure if it will ever be fully able to really think for itself at the level of most humans but I suspect we will eventually crack it and get very close to that goal.

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  • [–] 0 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    I don't think we share the definition of "thinking", but that wasn't even the point.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago (1 child)

    Sure. We can have different definitions of thinking and we can disagree that AI in its current form even thinks at all. It is all very debatable as it for aure gives the illusion of thinking and even has moments that are very convincing, but then later you realize it really does not understand what it thinks up. It just knows the pattern and predictions and not really the content itself which really makes you wonder if it really is thinking at all to your point I suspect. I can see your point if so, but thinking seems like a spectrum of traits and as far as my experience, LLMs showcase some thinking, just not nearly enough. Still very impressive all the same despite the hallucinations and odd errors.

    But if I missed your point, could you please rephrase.

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  • [–] 0 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    Yes, that's more or less my point of view about AI. The message I was trying to convey is the dangerous educational, pedagogical path that kids and teenagers may take allowing "AI" to "think" for themselves, i. e. using different LLMs and even real AIs as a go-to shortcut for any problem or task that needs to be solved. Social digital platforms have already socially and emotionally impaired them as a generation, in my opinion. While I can recognize the generational differences in cohorts, this feels damaging, as smoking was for boomers.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago (1 child)

    Wow. That is a very bold statement. As bad as smoking? The data so far has not been conclusive on the damage or not but we have to acknowledge that it has not been long enough to really know. Maybe it is as bad as smoking, but probably more along the lines of social media, TV, radio, records, printed material and even just writing as all of them had similar brain rot concerns going all the way back to Ancient Greece. Does. It mean we should not be monitoring but so far it seems like ok the balance it has been positive for students as many share it is a fantastic tool to learn things. Of course some will abuse and misuse AI, but so were Coles notes back in the day. Some people really just do not want to learn and I think that is ok. Hopefully the future will provide a place for those who love to learn and those who do not.

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  • [–] 0 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    Yes, it's bold, but recent court resolutions against Google and Facebook, may work as a warning against an out-of-control situation.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago (1 child)

    I guess we will see but I am doubtful unless the law has real teeth that will significantly impact the executives personally. Given how long it has taken to address social media exploitation gives me little hope we will really address any of the issues in a meaningful way and worse as AI will bring more issues that will likely go unchecked for decades.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago

    Well, yeah. A degree is the gatekeeper you need to pay so that you can have a good job. They don't care about school, they just don't want to be poor. As degrees get more expensive, and as graduates have a harder and harder time finding good jobs, that social contract is disintegrating. The resentment they feel towards the system they're trapped in is not a good education environment.

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  • [–] 7 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    There's different ways to use it. If you use it to cheat, yeah, your ability to think will be destroyed because you aren't learning.

    It might be more useful if used to explain concepts, so you can do the actual work yourself. I know there's a lot about math that I didn't really learn in class and had to learn from extra lectures I watched outside class in my personal study time, so if someone used it like that it might help. Personally, I'd be too anxious about hallucinations teaching me bad information. The last thing I'd want is to end up like that guy who thought he was inventing new types of math because his chatbot told him he's a genius.

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    If someone uses it to cheat and not learn, it is not AIs fault they did not learn?

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  • [–] 5 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    Fault is irrelevant. The question is if students will hurt their education with AI, and they will. Whether they're hurting themselves or being hurt by an unsafe technology is actually a secondary question that doesn't really matter in this instance.

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  • [–] 0 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    I do not think it is that black and white. Some students may use AI in ways to skip actually learning and “maybe” AI is making that situation worse, but there are for sure other students that are using AI to learn more than they ever have before. Maybe there is a divide developing with those who use to learn and achieve new heights, and those who use it to skip doing things and learning altogether.

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  • [–] 4 points 4 months ago* (1 child)

    What? I said that chatbots can be useful, such as if you used it to explain concepts like how I used to use supplemental lectures. Hardly black-and-white! The danger surrounds students using it as a shortcut to avoid work and to cheat on assignments, and they absolutely will.

    Remember, fault is irrelevant. The assumption you seem to have is that a student that uses a chatbot to sabotage their own education deserves it; we should just let this divide emerge between students that ruin their education with chatbots and students that succeed. Basically a sink or swim/survival of the fittest approach to education.

    That's a horrible idea. We can't afford to allow students to ruin their education. The vast vast majority of students merely do what is required to get a passing grade, and if getting a passing grade no longer requires learning or understanding anything then they won't bother. That's really bad for them as students, and for society as a whole.

    What you're proposing is the collapse of civilization.

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