The Brian Lehrer Show What Students Lose When ChatGPT Writes Their Essays
The Real Cost of Letting AI Write Student Essays
College students increasingly use AI tools like ChatGPT to write essays, often outsourcing up to 90% of the work for classes they find uninteresting, such as art history for an accounting major.
This widespread use of AI risks short-circuiting the essential learning process where students engage deeply and experience 'eureka moments' while grappling with difficult material.
Though AI can help with efficiency, it may diminish critical thinking and the transformative potential of education, particularly in humanities.
The conversation suggests reevaluating college requirements since many students see courses outside their major as irrelevant and use AI to bypass learning in these areas.
Ultimately, education is about shaping human beings and citizens through challenge and intellectual struggle, experiences that AI-assisted shortcuts might undermine.
NYU Students Outsource Essays to AI
- Alex and Eugene, two NYU students, use AI tools for most of their essays and emails to save time.
- Alex, interested in accounting, uses AI for 90% of his art history class work and retains very little knowledge from it.
AI Short-Circuits Learning Magic
- AI tools risk short-circuiting the deep learning process and the 'moments of magic' in education.
- The broader societal challenge is adapting to AI, not just managing college use.
