Yes, my daughter uses ChatGPT; no, I'm not sorry

Point of view

- By ANA WARREN GONZALEZ

I'm a single mom to a nine-year-old daughter. Yes, we use ChatGPT to help with homework. I have been advised of how immoral this is, but...is it, though? Or are we coming from a place of fear and misinformation?

SBS Swiss Business School conducted a study across the United Kingdom. A total of 666 participants, distributed across three age groups (17-25, 26-45 and 46 and older) with varying educational backgrounds, were brought through a battery of tests and interviews on their AI use, cognitive offloading tendencies and critical thinking skills. The results of the study were troubling: younger people were most reliant on AI and showed the lowest critical thinking scores (which, incidentally, was offset if they had higher educational attainment).

The International Journal of Risk and Contingency Management surveyed 53 students across several educational institutions with a quantitative approach, to examine the effects of AI-assisted learning. The results showed that there was no significant difference in critical thinking skills between students who had prior exposure to AI tools and those who didn't, but there was a negative correlation between reliance on AI for assignments and students' problem-solving skills—indicating that over-reliance on AI can staunch independent thinking.

The research is clear. AI = brain rot. Mental outsourcing bad, critical thinking good.

But folks, AI's just a tool

Sometimes I wonder if our fear of AI is Hollywood-driven. Some of the anti-AI arguments I've heard sound like a Black Mirror episode. As a full-time copywriter, sure, I've seen the effects of AI on my industry. An old mentee hit me up a few months back looking for work because AI had taken over his role in many companies. Yes, it's really a thing, it really happens, especially among business owners that have no idea that they're shooting themselves in the foot, but that's a topic for another day.