What are the consequences of relying on something or someone for everything? While AI is the new fresh and what seems to many, the downfall of the society, these discussions of AI are not far off from other technologies. I’ve heard people say, “The internet will make teachers and other professions redundant because one can find all the answers within minutes”, yet there are still teachers. I’ve also heard people say “The internet will make people dumber”, yet there are some of the most brilliant people who have benefited from it in their academic pursuit. Of course, there is plenty of blaming and finger pointing for our current problems due to things like the internet but I think there is something deeper at play.

Have you had family members or friends ask for help on something that you are more knowledgeable than the average person? Personally, I’m the computer person in my family from helping with printers to setting up new phones. While I don’t mind helping with something I’m interested in, I have a couple family members who come to me for everything under the sun. How do I download a song? How do I search this on the internet? How do I connect to the internet? I have no problem helping yet by the time I finish explaining the how and why, the next response is: “Can you just do it for me?”. It’s shortly after that the same person comes a month later to ask help for the same question. The problem at it’s core is some people don’t want to do anything even with provided the necessary resources or help. From the beginning of time this has been a problem. Critics of the internet are frustrated because some people would rather use the internet than open a book to answer their questions because reading a book takes too much effort. Now, people don’t even want to search the internet for an answer because it takes too much effort.

Keep in mind that there are those who do want to put in the effort to read a book. They may start off using the internet looking for information but eventually find that they will learn more from a specific book. Likewise, there are those who want to put in the effort to learn a certain subject but they may start by asking AI some questions and then pursue the subject more through different means. The problem isn’t the technology (which in my opinion, is a tool to help more people get access to information or ideas) but it’s whether a person wants to understand the skills and knowledge from learning or receive a prompt that’s viewed as an acceptable answer. There will always be those who choose learning and those that choose to skip to the end product. One is gradual and time consuming but offers experience and deeper understanding while the other is gratifying and instantaneous providing the “correct” answer with little understanding why and a false sense of knowledge.

In my eyes, the question of how much of anything is too much be it the internet, my professors, my friends, AI, is clearer. When anything (including AI) is used for the sole purpose of obtaining an end product which I repeatedly rely on then it’s too much. By skipping the process to get to the end product, you’re also skipping the learning in between. However, sometimes it can be justifiable to skip to the end product. I’d benefit from learning how to fix my car but, I rarely (thankfully, knock on wood) have to do any repairs that for me it is not worth the time or resources to learn. So in some sense, if there is a rare request, I think it’s okay to use AI to receive an answer. It should be noted that even if using AI to receive an answer is acceptable, It’s a machine that general lacks context and more importantly, the learning experience that a professional has resulting in a generic or surface level answer (sometimes that can be okay but not for everything).

Lastly, I want to talk about AI in education. I see so many teachers and professors cursing AI but at the same time there are products after products targeting educators to commit the same flaws as their students. Teachers are using the AI to generate entire assignments, quizzes, tests and even assessment feedback. Why should students listen to teachers about not using AI to completely answer their homework when those same teachers are guilty of what the students are doing? Although the learning material is familiar to the teacher, every class and student is different that it is teachers “homework” to find ways to create material that addresses lack of knowledge, interest, or motivation of the learning material. The students need to feel like the teacher cares about their progression which requires diligent thought, creativity, and care; all of which cannot be captured by a prompt.