Chatbots in Learning: A Step Forward or a Step Too Far?

AI isn’t taking over the world, but it might be taking over our ability to think.  

Everything in university seems fun and fair until you are asked to write critical analysis papers for your psychology courses, which are normally known for NOT requiring written papers. Going from memorizing details for tests to understanding and dissecting research papers was not something that I felt prepared for. But yet, haven’t I been doing a variation of this most of my life? Think back to the reflections we needed to do for book club in elementary school, high school, and something that you are expected to do in many humanities courses as a university student. So where did my ability to reason, defend a position, or critique someone else’s work go? 

Well after much reflection, I realized these skills first began diminishing when I started believing that everything, I could possibly think of has already been thought of, so why should I waste my time re-stating these thoughts? Then, my critical thinking skills must have taken the highway out when chatbots were popularized. Realistically, why would I spend time trying to understand a paper when I could run it through ChatGPT and ask it to break it down for me? Of course, I underestimated the consequences of such actions when I was expected to show some ingenuity of my own for these papers. A part of me grieved the ability I once had to be original, develop my own thinking and do it so well that I would feel confident when handing in my own work. Don’t get me wrong– I love using Chatbots to brainstorm, understand texts, and clarify instructions for classes. But let’s be honest, many of us can admit that it is taking away our ability to reason away.

 Critical thinking is such an important skill to possess. It’s what allows us to engage with others, challenge ideas and either embrace or reject perspectives with informed reasoning. Consider the recent election, were you truly using your own reasoning to make your decision or did you just go with what everyone else was saying? This is just ONE example of where critical thinking skills would have come in handy. Think about debating someone: what may one need in such a situation? If you thought “critical thinking”, congrats, you just demonstrated it! ChatGPT can be blamed for the intellectual laziness that many students engage in now, and no this is not the same ‘lazy’ that is often correlated with intelligence. So, is it worth it? Losing your ability to reason spontaneously? Think of novel ways to understand texts? To extend your thinking enough to understand another person’s perspective? If you still think chatbots are awesome, consider this next part. 

In addition to the loss of your amazing critical thinking skills, chatbots like ChatGPT are harmful to the environment. According to McLean (2023), ChatGPT was responsible for emitting 8.4 tons of carbon dioxide per year, which I am sure has increased as the accessibility has expanded. While professionals claim that there are new approaches being explored for a sustainable alternative, little development has taken place for such measures.  Every time you use a chatbot, the energy consumption reverses the benefits of all that recycling you do. So if losing your critical thinking skills is not enough, then consider the massive environmental impacts using chatbots produces.

Now, the point of the article was not to make you feel guilty for using chatbots nor was it implying that you lack critical thinking skills. Instead, it’s to promote critical thinking INDEPENDENT of chatbots while preserving the environment. As a McMaster student, there are many courses that can strengthen your critical thinking skills. In fact, there’s literally a course called Critical Thinking that runs in the Humanities department open to Level 2+ students enrolled in any program. Developing critical thinking skills will never wrong you but letting them slip away always will. The next time you find yourself reaching to use ChatGPT, be strategic and ensure that you are using it to further advance your thinking, not to find a shortcut to your assignments. 

Sources:

McLean, S. (2023, April 28). The environmental impact of ChatGPT: A Call for Sustainable Practices In AI Development. Earth.Org. https://earth.org/environmental-impact-chatgpt/ 

• AI
• ChatGPT
• college
• critical thinking
• generative AI
• school
• skills
• university
• writing skills