AI is Here to Stay

This graduation season, it seemed like every commencement speaker had AI on their mind. At Harvard, comedian Ronny Chieng delivered a cautionary message, urging graduates to resist AI shortcuts to preserve their critical thinking and human creativity. J.D. Vance’s message at the Air Force Academy was to never let automation make life and death decisions and former Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, told graduates at the University of Arizona that AI is here to stay. His message to students was to integrate AI into their future careers – a pragmatic stance that sparked visible pushback from a student body anxious over job security.

No matter where you stand on AI, we have to acknowledge the reality: our students are already using these tools. How about you? Are you using AI?

Okay, I will come clean: I asked AI to summarize graduation speeches that dealt with AI. It helped me do research for this post. I was given just enough information to write that first paragraph but it was rather superficial don’t you think?

I will also admit, when I’m short on time, I’ll sometimes use AI to solve a math problem that I am struggling with. It gives me an answer, sometimes not an accurate one, and I know it stunts my learning. When I use AI, I completely skip the ‘productive struggle’ of trying, messing up, and trying again. It feels satisfying in the moment, but it definitely doesn’t help my skills in the long run. I have to limit my use of AI so I can keep my problem-solving skills sharp. If I use AI too often, I can feel my analytical skills atrophying.

This raises an important question: Are our students self-aware enough to regulate their own use of AI? Furthermore, is it our responsibility to help them manage this balance?

While I am still searching for the answers, I know I must remain acutely aware of how AI is changing the way my students learn—or fail to learn. Experimenting with these tools myself is helpful in the moment, but it is even more valuable for understanding the modern learning process our students navigate every day.

Interestingly, even global religious leaders are weighing in on the ethics of this technology. Pope Leo recently issued a sweeping warning that humanity must regulate AI to protect human dignity, prevent deep inequality, and disarm autonomous weapons. He stressed that while technology is not inherently evil, AI lacks human empathy and must never override human critical thinking.

I know, it is a lot to think about. To safely navigate this future, we need to use AI firsthand and see for ourselves whether it truly helps or hinders the learning process. Thanks for reading! kim