LogInBut how horrible is it?
metamorworks/Shutterstock
People have very different opinions on AI nowadays. Creatives hate it for trying to take their jobs, but if you talk about it with your friends who are removed from this fight, you've likely heard them praising AI and saying how it helps them in their tasks.
Whatever your opinion on the technology, it is slowly leading us to an unsurprising result. Several studies referenced by Forbes claim that using AI is detrimental to our cognitive skills.
In the Generative AI Can Harm Learning report, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania say that Turkish high school students who had access to ChatGPT while doing math problems did worse on a test than those who didn’t use it.
The authors think the problem is that students are using the chatbot as a "crutch" and just ask for the answer: "Students were not building the skills that come from solving the problems themselves."
Furthermore, according to Forbes, educational experts believe that students "are increasingly being taught to accept AI-generated answers without fully understanding the underlying processes or concepts." They are concerned that future generations "may lack the capacity to engage in deeper intellectual exercises, relying on algorithms instead of their own analytical skills."
Primakov/Shutterstock
The National Institute of Health also warns against "AI-induced skill decay," the result of excessive use of the tech, which can lead to stifling human innovation. When workers turn to AI for everyday tasks, they might miss opportunities to practice and refine their cognitive abilities, the outlet says.
Moreover, reliance on AI is raising concerns about the "erosion of human judgment."
"In sectors like finance and healthcare, AI systems are increasingly being used to recommend investment strategies or medical diagnoses. The risk of incorrect outputs or dangerous guidance remains a concern, as glitches can show up in even the most sophisticated LLMs. The more decisions we delegate to AI, the less practice we get in honing our own judgment."
Forbes concludes that our collective goal should be to "create spaces where human intelligence remains at the center." Researchers at Stanford, in turn, highlight the importance of explanations, so AI shares insights, not just outputs.
It can be argued that math problems are not a perfect study subject. I'm sure the invention and wide use of calculators also caused its fair share of fearmongering back in the day: of course, counting on a piece of paper or even in your head wakes up more brain cells than doing so with technology, but is it as horrible as it's painted?
"Tools like calculators and spreadsheets were designed to assist in specific tasks – such as arithmetic and data analysis – without fundamentally altering the way our brains process information," says Forbes.
From my point of view, math is a means to an end, all those calculations lead to a bigger goal than simply putting numbers together. Asking ChatGPT instead of thinking or doing research is definitely not as beneficial for the mind, but is it truly the end of our intelligence? The internet opened a whole new world of possibilities, letting us learn about all kinds of stuff quickly instead of spending hours at the library, and this was also once a reason for concern and contempt.
I believe it's our methods that evolve, not the end goal, and this is not as scary as it looks to some. While generative AI worries are valid, I doubt solving math problems with artificial intelligence instead of the real one will lead to humanity's decline, but it can also be argued.
What is your stance on the matter? Join our 80 Level Talent platform and our new Discord server, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Telegram, TikTok, and Threads, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.