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Artificial Intelligence (AI) is now a part of our world. The question to be answered is whether it is for good or for evil.
The ease of asking your AI to answer a question regarding a topic you have been wondering about has become commonplace. Its use, though, has become an issue when it is used in the educational system.
When researchers looked at students at MIT (The Massachusetts Institute of Technology) who used ChatGPT to draft essays, these students incurred a cognitive debt. In other words, these students consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic and behavioral levels. The researchers concluded that there was a “likely decrease in the students’ ability to learn.”
In the same vein, studies have shown that physicians who consistently use AI in their work, such as performing colonoscopies, have a 20 percent lower ability to spot polyps and other abnormalities on their own. The researchers found these clinicians were less motivated, less focused, and less responsible when making cognitive decisions without AI assistance.
So, should we worry? The debate rages on. Some believe we should focus on identifying the skills that should be protected and encourage their development. The problem, though, is that if skills are not used, they are lost or, as we say, “use it or lose it.”
The same thoughts lie with students. As the study showed, students who used AI to draft their papers failed to develop their writing skills. If the skills of language, thinking, and behavior are not developed and even lost, how will they be regained?
Studies show that a person’s disengagement from fundamental skills and tasks, often resulting in an over-reliance on AI systems, can lead to a loss of basic skills without the individual recognizing this is happening. If you do not use it, you will lose it.
Will there be programs that test this slide in skills and others that help students relearn these skills? Will the students care about relearning what they have lost and may not have known?
As we navigate this AI landscape, several key thoughts should be running through our minds. How do we intelligently use AI? The tool takes the drudgery out of so many tasks, but we must work to maintain our ability to think, assess and react appropriately.
This will be a task that many in the medical field struggle with as we rely on the AI assistance to get more accurate results in reading mammograms, doing colonoscopies, reading echocardiograms, and other procedures. One can use these tools without eroding the technical skills one possesses and needs to maintain to perform tasks that directly lead to information and results. The same will be for the world in general. As I mentioned earlier, AI is helpful, but we must utilize our minds and continually practice developing our skills and concepts to advance. Otherwise, we will lose those skills if we don’t use them.
Dr. Veita Bland is a board-certified Greensboro physician and hypertension specialist. Dr. Bland’s radio show, “It’s a Matter of Your Health,” can be heard live on Wednesdays, 5:30 p.m. on N.C. A&T State University’s WNAA, 90.1 FM. Listeners may call in and ask questions. The show is replayed on Sirius 142 at 5 p.m. on Wed. Email Dr. Bland at ideas@blandclinicpa.com.
