AI Tools Will Not do it All for You

by John Bandler

I have done a lot of learning and teaching in my life so far.

As an instructor and professor, I witnessed the changes that artificial intelligence (AI) tools brought for students, and continue to see the effects.

Whatever the benefits of AI for learning, it is clear that some students misuse it.

Also, I see that some students at the college, graduate, and law school level are having difficulty with some of the skills we need throughout life, and which we hope formal education will provide. Those skills include having a solid ability to:

Read
Think
Analyze
Write
Edit.

Education and learning need not come from a formal academic institution. It is clear:

Some people obtain a degree, including advanced degrees, without achieving the necessary education and learning
Some people are able to learn and educate themselves, even without formal advanced education.

Plenty of marketing hype

There is no shortage of marketing hype, as AI companies spend millions of dollars and use the full abilities of their technology tools to try influence consumers to use their product.

Once people use an AI tool, they are subject to further influence as they use the tool. The tool learns all about the user, and provides answers and information to the user. Hopefully the user is able to separate fact from misinformation or fiction.

AI promises to read for you, summarize it so you don't have to read it yourself, to write for you, and edit for you. It promises to save you time and make things easy.

Almost every software now offers AI writing prompts.

We can be saved the time and trouble of having to think our own thoughts, write our own words, and read the words that others wrote.

In Sum: We can use an AI tool to write, and an AI tool to read the words that someone else's AI tool used to write.

AI is a tool

Let's be clear that AI is simply a tool. A tool is rarely "bad" or "good", because it depends on how the tool is marketed, configured, and then used.

Any tool can be:

Used properly for good
Misused by accident
Deliberately used for bad

It's about the journey and the destination

You've heard this phrase:

It's about the journey not the destination

We need to tweak it, to reflect that both the journey and the the destination are important.

It's about the journey and the destination

Then we need to ask these questions about learning and education.

What should the journey be?
What should the desired destination be?
What shortcuts are true shortcuts (that get us to the same desired destination)?

A true shortcut gets us to the same destination as the longer route. We experience this all the time when driving or walking somewhere, we could take the direct route, or the scenic route. Take the direct route (shortcut) or the scenic route? They should go to the same destination. John Bandler, AI tools will not do it all for you

Sometimes we choose the scenic route because we are not in a hurry, and want to enjoy the journey and the sites we see. Sometimes we go the direct shortcut because we need to get there quickly.

The learning journey requires effort and time

The learning journey requires time and effort. Sometimes struggle and frustration. If it was easy, everyone would do it.

Learning requires practice and effort. This means practicing and exercising the skills you need to

Read
Think
Analyze
Write
Edit.

You get better with practice and effort. You gain confidence in your abilities and can improve yourself. This is the case for any skill, any learning, and including academic subjects, sports, and crafts.

AI tools may take you to a different destination

An AI tool that makes the process simple and easy might not take you to the destination where you have learned, built skills, and gained confidence.

You might submit the assignment easily, with minimal effort. The paper gets done quickly. The report is completed easily.

Maybe the product is even half decent or good (and no one realizes that you used an AI tool to do it, and thus how unnecessary you were to the process to get the product done).

You do not get yourself to the destination where you have learned through the process. Your learning may have only advanced just a few steps. This means the AI tool may not be a true shortcut, but takes you to a place you don't want to go.

You decide

You decide how you want to be in the future, and how you want to learn now.

You get to decide what tools you will use, how you will use them, and whether and how you will rely on automated output from a technology tool (or social media platform).

We are subject to influence constantly, especially through technology, and now this includes how we learn.

Education and learning is both a journey and a destination. Figure out the destination you want to reach. Then put in the effort and take your time during the journey. AI shortcuts might not get you to a destination where you have properly learned, built your skills, and gained confidence in yourself.