I’m a single mom to a 9-year-old daughter. Yes, we use ChatGPT to help with homework. I have been advised of how immoral this is, but…
…is it, though? Or are we coming from a place of fear and misinformation?
AI Use Shows a Decline in Critical Thinking Skills
SBS Swiss Business School conducted a study across the United Kingdom. 666 participants, distributed across three age groups (17-25, 26-45, and 46 and older) with varying educational backgrounds, were brought through a battery of tests and interviews on their AI use, cognitive offloading tendencies, and critical thinking skills. The results of the study were troubling: younger people were most reliant on AI and showed the lowest critical thinking scores (which, incidentally, was offset if they had higher educational attainment).
The International Journal of Risk and Contingency Management surveyed 53 students across several educational institutions with a quantitative approach, to examine the effects of AI-assisted learning. The results showed that there was no significant difference in critical thinking skills between students who had prior exposure to AI tools, and those who didn’t, but there was a negative correlation between reliance on AI for assignments and students’ problem-solving skills – indicating that over-reliance on AI can staunch independent thinking.
Got it. The research is clear. AI = brain rot. Mental outsourcing bad, critical thinking good.
But Folks, AI’s Just a Tool
Sometimes I wonder if our fear of AI is Hollywood-driven. Some of the anti-AI arguments I’ve heard sound like a Black Mirror episode. As a full-time copywriter, sure, I’ve seen the effects of AI on my industry. An old mentee hit me up a few months back, looking for work, because AI had taken over his role in many companies. Yes, it’s really a thing, it really happens, especially among business owners that have no idea that they’re shooting themselves in the foot, but that’s a topic for another day.
So, given that I’ve seen how AI has hurt various industries and even led to detrimental – even dangerous – effects (read up on AI in healthcare and AI in automated vehicles – dun dun duuuun), why am I still a fan?
People ask me all the time, what do I use AI for? Why do I like it so much?
It cuts my time in half. That’s why.
I’ve never expected AI to do the job for me. Any more than I’d expect my staff to write something that was assigned to me. I’ve discovered two misuses of AI in all my exposure:
- If it’s not giving you what you want, your prompt engineering isn’t where it needs to be
- You’re expecting too much of it; it’s still just a tool
I often find incredible sanctimoniousness in the anti-AI camp. They come at AI expecting it to solve the world’s ills, get upset when it doesn’t, then blame it for not being intelligent enough. Then when it does get intelligent enough, back we go to Black Mirror and the Twilight Zone, where Megan will slaughter your family and Alexa will spy on you in your sleep. (Not saying that’s not possible, but I’m a copywriter, not a tech bro, so you’ll have to ask them for their opinions on that topic. Suffice it to say I won’t be buying a robot nanny any time soon.)
AI was built by humans for humans. As former IBM chairman Ginny Rometty said, “Some people call this artificial intelligence, but the reality is this technology will enhance us. So instead of artificial intelligence, I think we’ll augment our intelligence.” I think, as long as we keep it to that use, we’ll be alright.
The Importance of Human Agency
So, here’s where my daughter uses ChatGPT. “Mom, I have a Filipino test on Friday.” Cue panic response from me. I was determinedly pasang-awa in Filipino in college – it’s a beautiful, poetic, onomatopoeic language, but it’s also not easy. The US Foreign Service Institute estimated 1100 hours of classroom study to reach Professional Working Proficiency in Tagalog – in that same category are Hindi, Albanian, Finnish, and Russian. So, before you crucify me for being Inglisera, understand that I do love Filipino, and I’m amazingly fluent at it when I’m angry and yelling at Manila’s incredible traffic situation, but when you slam me with pangabay and pang-uri, I will legit sweat bullets.
So, in swoops ChatGPT. I will take photos of her quizzes and homework. I key it into ChatGPT. I give it the grade level I expect, how many questions I need, and instruct it to come up with new questions. It’ll take some back and forth until it gets it right. It’ll even make me an answer key – because I do want my girl to correct her own answers and see where she went wrong, and not make the same mistakes again.
If I were to do that on my own, I would research questions, probably bring them through Google Translate (hell-O machine translations – also AI!), then format a reviewer, then make sure the answer was the correct one. All in the midst of coordinating with my team, fixing her soccer match schedules, picking her up from school, feeding the cats, and figuring out what to cook for dinner. TL;DR – the time savings that ChatGPT gives me with test review is incredibly welcome. (And yes, in case you’re wondering, she does have a Filipino tutor, because I know where I’m weak, and she’s better at Filipino than I am at this point – I say with immense pride!)
In this house, ChatGPT is a tool. That’s all it is. It is used to create a worksheet for her to review what she’s already learned – using what she’s already learned – to test her knowledge. So, yeah, critical thinking.
I find it quite funny how AI has led to diminished critical thinking. Are we not using critical thinking when we use AI? Or is that just me?
If this kid comes home with essay homework and uses ChatGPT to write it, if she’s supposed to research and uses ChatGPT as a shortcut, then yes, she’ll definitely be grounded and have extra dishes to wash.
Human agency – critical thought – these are so crucial when it comes to navigating this all new world of tech, especially with kids.
The Moral Obligation of Parents
I’ll keep this one short, because Adolescence on Netflix already did much of this for me.
Schools that shame kids for using AI aren’t quite getting it. Besides, it’s the parents you should be speaking to, not the kids. Knee-jerk, fear-based responses around children are never going to be okay in my book. Education is supposed to educate, not instill fear. Furthermore, it just undermines the actual effort that kids and parents are actually putting in – with critical thinking, as well.
It’s so important for us parents to guide the children. Monitor what they’re doing online – and offline. If your kids’ actions in the playground are important to you, so you know they operate out of integrity and kindness, then so too should their online actions be important, as well.
We Live in a Tech World. Deal With It.
Basis Technologies published that in the USA in 2024, 36.2 million kids from 0-11 years old were active internet users. Furthermore, 43% of Gen Alphas have a tablet before age 6, while 58% have smartphones by 10 years old. You know, and I know, how dangerous tech can be; it exposes them to information that should ideally be coming from us. Self-education at the hands of tech can be a terrible, irreversible thing.
But what good would it do anybody to hide our heads in the sand and insist on a tech-free lifestyle? Robotics is becoming a prerequisite in most schools. By the time kids are in high school, they need their own laptops. Sure, you could make a case that tech should come with a certain amount of readiness and responsibility, and I’d agree with you. My kid doesn’t play Roblox and the only YouTube videos she’s allowed to comment on are on her friends’ accounts; if I don’t know the kid personally, it’s not happening kiddo, no matter how much you protest.
Tech is starting to take over. The tech giants should be responsible and ethical with the power they give tech, sure, but as parents we need to do what we can, on our end. And that means guiding the children with technological mastery, not mental outsourcing. Using AI as a tool – under supervision – not as a solution.
Plus, let’s stop blaming AI. It’s not the robot’s fault. Let’s not let the tablet be the kid’s nanny, and let’s not let AI do their homework. We still have to be involved, as human beings, as parents, as the owner of the technology.
This might change in the future; God knows AI is progressing at alarming speed, and knowing it’s still in its infancy with the sophistication it presents is most definitely cause for fear. But I remain optimistic. If we keep it as a tool, it can help. If we promote it past its capability, who have we to blame but ourselves? (And Elon maybe, IDK.)
Bee tee dubs, this was written without AI, but I did ask ChatGPT to help me summarize the research, in case you’re curious!
