10 Matching Annotations
  1. Oct 2025
  2. emergingethics.substack.com emergingethics.substack.com
    Why We’re Not Using AI in This Course, Despite Its Obvious Benefits
    10
    1. JiayouSun 03 Oct 2025
      Yes, jobs are essential, especially in a society with a very thin social-safety net, and it’s naïve and hopelessly romantic to think that jobs shouldn’t be a concern for university students. It’s very possible that your job after college will involve using AI to some extent, and therefore it’s important for students to learn how to best do that. But just as it’s important for everyone to know how to do basic math despite the wide availability of calculators, that also means you still need to know how to think for yourself and learn new knowledge even if AI is widely available.

      This is true, If AI can completely fulfill a job, why hire you? The author gave a great example: we all have computers in our phones, but some people can do some complex calculations, why can't I? This shows that we shouldn't just use AI simply, but learn how to use it correctly to help you accomplish tasks that others cannot complete.

    2. JiayouSun 03 Oct 2025
      Even among college students who have more education than the average American, many won’t look up the definition of words they don’t know, even though it’s so easy. Again, that little extra step can be a major hurdle, and too many people can’t be bothered and are happy to remain ignorant, whether we’re talking about calculators, dictionaries, or other tools. So, just because we have access to those tools is no guarantee that we will actually use them, even when it’s crucial to our understanding.

      Technology can help us live and learn better, which depends on how we use it. If we use technology correctly, it can improve our ability. But if we ignore it or use it only to quickly fulfill a task, then it will not truly help us grow

    3. JiayouSun 03 Oct 2025
      But even if you can whip out a phone-calculator from your pocket, that extra step is still a hurdle that disincentivizes actually doing that work.

      I think this is a good example. Based on my experience, translation apps are very common, but it's like a calculator; we need an extra step. And even if you use the app to translate, can you make sure the app can express your idea better than you yourself?

    4. JiayouSun 02 Oct 2025
      AI cheating is disrespectful to instructors.

      I agree that using AI to do work is disrespectful to teacher. According to the abovementioned, no teacher wants to spend time reading something written by AI. The teacher wants to look for the student’s own genuine thoughts, not the AI’s perspective.

    5. JiayouSun 02 Oct 2025
      Likewise, it is very surprising when ChatGPT can’t even beat a 1977 Atari gaming machine in chess. Sure, ChatGPT also isn’t designed to be a chess engine, but you would expect something that is otherwise so capable—even superhuman for many tasks—to not fail so badly at games that rely on critical thinking and planning.

      According to this paragraph shows that AI is not as powerful as many people imagine. Although AI has strong algorithmic capability, but it still cannot win 1977 Atari machine in chess. This reminds me that sometimes our own human problem-solving skills are actually stronger than AI. We should not see AI as something far beyond us. Humans still have unique abilities that AI cannot replace us.

    6. JiayouSun 02 Oct 2025
      But if you rely on using AI for your coursework, you might not even be learning that some particular thing is true.

      The author points out that if students are always depending on AI, even you might learn what is actually true. I agree with this point, because many important acknowledgments come from personal effort and direct experience, not just from theory. These are things AI cannot replace, and only by going by myself can we truly grow.

    7. JiayouSun 02 Oct 2025
      The university is a gym for your mind. For both body and mind, your abilities and skills atrophy or decline when they’re not used, like a dead limb, for efficiency and energy-savings. This deskilling is already happening with doctors and other professionals, not just students. Just as sending a robot defeats the purpose of a workout, sending in an AI to do your intellectual work (i.e., cognitive offloading) defeats the purpose of education.

      The author uses a strong metaphor comparing university to a gym for the mind. I think this is very true if we want to get a healthy body, so we just watch workout videos? We must have actual exercise ourselves. In the same way, if we think something depends on AI to do work, we cannot train our thinking skills.

    8. JiayouSun 02 Oct 2025
      Thus, relying on AI to carry you through the hard parts of your coursework shortchanges your education: you’re still paying the same amount but getting much less out of it in return, which can make you look like a sucker. If you’re using AI to learn how to be an AI whisperer or prompt engineer, you can do that for free at home. So, why are you still here, if you’re just cruising through school with AI?

      The author mentions that over-relying on AI makes my education less valuable, I pay the same tuition as other classmates, but I get less acknowledgment than other students. I think this point is fair, if I can learn something through AI then I do not need to attend university. Why do we go to university? We should be thinking about what things we can learn in school, not from AI above.

    9. JiayouSun 02 Oct 2025
      Technology is not the enemy. Arguably, without technology, humans wouldn’t exist.

      The author mentions that technology is not the enemy, I agree with this point. We need to think about how to live with technology instead of totally depending on AI. Technology should offer us more convenience in life, not replace it our own efforts.

    10. JiayouSun 02 Oct 2025
      In other words, AI can be a great equalizer in promoting equity and inclusion: why should only the educated, hardworking, gifted, or talented be able to produce such things—why not also you?

      The author believes that AI is a fair tool that can let people have the same innovation to create what they want, not just those who are talented and educated. First of all, I agree AI has stronger creative abilities, and AI can help students who do not have strong writing to establish self-confidence. However, I worry about this kind of “convenience” leading to students depending more on AI, which lets students lack more skills, like critical thinking.

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    emergingethics.substack.com/p/why-were-not-using-ai-in-this-course