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Posted on by Tina Reed

AI’s Not a Genie in a Lamp: It’s a Space to Think

One small change in our approach to teaching about AI makes a big difference, Josh Thorpe writes.

“You have probably seen lots of metaphors comparing generative AI to a superpower or a genie in a bottle. These aren’t quite right.  

If you’ve used gen AI, you know that the “magic power” feeling is fleeting. Yes, it can come up with a pretty good Wikipedia-style explanation of amoebas or utilitarianism, but as soon as you want to produce something really interesting with ChatGPT and other large language models, things start go a bit wrong. 

And that’s a good thing. AI’s shortcomings are a blessing: They give us a really good reason to continue thinking for ourselves.

The same goes for students. And we can leverage this fact (that we mustn’t stop thinking for ourselves) to try to make our students much more thoughtful in how they use AI. 

As an academic adviser and learning developer, I speak often with students about their uses of AI. In the early ChatGPT days, students didn’t want to talk about it. I think they were worried they were doing something wrong. But recently they’re opening up. What they say has surprised me.  

Students’ approaches to AI run the full gamut. This includes those who have no experience or interest, those who cheat or take shortcuts that are bad for learning, and, wonderfully, a surprising number who have a really well-developed and self-reflective view of their relationship to AI.  

I’m optimistic that this last group will actually become the mainstream. Educators can help move this trend along if we can collectively change the culture around AI, model healthy AI uses and embed critical AI literacy into education. 

I’ve taken up that call in the form of a book called AI for Students (Promptly, 2024)The book demonstrates how AI tech can be used not as magic powers, or even as tools, but more as interactive spaces, or virtual classrooms.”

Read more about AI and how it’s a space to think at Inside Higher Ed.

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