Introduction

| |- In a world were AI technology is becoming dominant in the educational sector, we can now gain access to knowledge with just a click on a computer. But despite this convenience, AI technology has now raised a lot of concern in our schools today. Kids are now finding it very hard to do research, they just do “copy and paste”, whenever they give them assignments.

A personal experience that opened my eyes

| |- https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2015/03/12/19/08/children-studying-670663_1280.jpg [source](https://pixabay.com/photos/children-studying-book-reading-read-670663/) Some days ago, I was with my niece and nephew. I saw them doing there homework with their phones. So, I decided to join them because there mum said I should help them out. Surprisingly, they said they didn’t need my help. I was curious to see what they are doing because I didn’t see their textbook close to them just their phones.

Before now, they use “Google” to answer their questions when they were much younger and they will always need assistance. But when I checked their phones this time, they no longer used Google. A friend had introduced them to “ChatGPT” and since then, everything has been so easy for them. I tried to discourage them from time to time but they have become so addicted to it.

As much as AI is now a powerful tool for learning and also offers amazing learning opportunities to school students like access to information like maths formulas, chemistry and physics explanations within seconds, it has now made a lot of this kids so use to shortcut that they don’t even pay attention in class anymore.

This “copy and paste” mindset has now overshadowed hard work not only among kids but also with adults. I remember some time ago when @wakeupkitty and @goodybest were condemning content creators using Ai technology to game the system. I didn’t really see it as a big deal until I noticed it at my house.

The reading culture really dropped with my nephew as a result of his over dependence on AI and it started affecting his scores. This student’s sees this AI generated answers as absolute truth, forgetting that even the best of AI can be wrong or biased.

Ai should be a tool not a crutch

| |- No doubt, AI technology connects this kids to wider pool of ideas and insights globally and they’re not limited to only the school text books but kids this days don’t even put any effort to understand because of the instant solutions they get. They skip the process that builds real knowledge. Critical thinking or problem solving skills is left dormant in their brains.

The real value in learning is about the process students take to arrive at the right answer not just jumping into it. Unfortunately, this process is been lost because of over dependence on AI making them dumber. To ensure AI becomes stepping stone rather than a trap, as guardians, parents or teachers must guide kids to see AI as a learning assistant not a shortcut or a tool were you can just get instant answers for there homework.

In conclusion, AI isn’t the enemy of education. In fact is a beautiful tool for learning but once in awhile, let’s encourage the kids to also combine it with old school strategies like brainstorming and group works. As adults, we should guide them to think, question and grow without depending on AI all the time.