AI Can Give You the Answer. But Did You Learn It?

“What I learned on my own I still remember.” Nassim Nicholas Taleb

AI seems to be showing up in almost every conversation I’m having at the moment.

How do we use it? What should we use it for? And increasingly: what is it doing to the way we learn?

The research is beginning to suggest an interesting distinction. AI can help us learn, sometimes remarkably well, when it acts as a tutor, challenger or thinking partner.

But when it does the thinking for us, something gets lost. Test scores improve in the short term, grades fall overall

Which brings me back to the quote from Taleb above. And perhaps the trick isn't to avoid AI, but to make sure we keep doing enough of the difficult stuff ourselves.

A simple framework I’m experimenting with is:

Brain first. AI second. Brain last.

Brain first: What do I already know? Try the problem. Form an opinion.  Read the report, not an AI summary)! Make a prediction.

AI second: Now ask AI. Get feedback. Ask for a hint. Find the holes in your thinking. Ask it to challenge you rather than simply give you the answer.

Brain last: Close the AI. What do you remember? What changed your mind? Can you explain it without looking? Can you apply it somewhere else?

AI can make getting answers almost effortless. Sadly learning probably shouldn't be.

Sometimes the struggle is where the learning happens.

More posts on AI can be found here: https://www.andrewjcalvert.com/blog/categories/ai