The More Powerful AI Becomes, the More Intentional We Must Become

Education has been here before. There was a time when “Bring Your Own Device” was seen as the future of learning. Smartphones promised immediate access to information, greater engagement, and new possibilities for education.

Today, the pendulum is moving in the other direction. More education systems around the world are restricting mobile phones in schools, and countries such as Sweden have restored greater emphasis on printed textbooks, handwriting, reading, and reduced screen time, especially for younger children.

The lesson is not that technology is bad.

It is that powerful technology is not automatically good pedagogy.

Artificial intelligence now presents us with a much bigger version of the same question.

AI may become one of the most powerful educational tools we have ever created. It can personalize learning, provide immediate feedback, support teachers, stimulate creativity, and expand what students can accomplish.

But AI is different from many technologies that came before it.

A smartphone can distract us from thinking.

AI can do some of the thinking for us.

Emerging research is already raising questions about cognitive offloading. What happens when technology begins performing the mental work through which learning and intellectual development normally occur?

A recent MIT Media Lab study on essay writing found that participants using AI showed lower measures of neural engagement, weaker recall, and a lower sense of ownership over their writing than participants using search engines or no digital assistance.

It was a relatively small study, so we should not overstate the findings. But the questions it raises are important.

The issue is not whether students should use AI.

It is how they use it.

AI can challenge a student's argument, provide feedback, suggest another perspective, or help test a hypothesis. Used this way, AI can extend thinking.

But if AI routinely does the reading, reasoning, problem solving, writing, and creating, we have to ask:

What exactly is the student developing?

There is a profound difference between using AI to extend our thinking and using AI instead of thinking.

Struggling to find the right words develops writing.

Working through a difficult problem develops reasoning.

Reading a challenging passage again develops comprehension.

Sitting with uncertainty develops intellectual patience.

In education, friction is not always a design flaw. Sometimes the struggle is where the learning happens.

Technology is usually designed to make things faster and easier. But learning is not always supposed to be easy.

If technology removes too much of the struggle, it may improve the final product while weakening the process that develops the person.

That is why I do not think our goal should simply be to create AI-powered schools.

Our goal should be to create human-centered schools that use AI wisely.

The more powerful AI becomes, the more intentional we must become about deciding what technology should do for students—and what students still need to do for themselves.