by Louise Flanagan
Remember the TV show The Jetsons, back in the day? It’s crazy to think that some of the futuristic gimmicks they dreamed up in that cartoon are now part of the fabric of our daily lives.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer the stuff of sci-fi. It’s here, and our children are using it – occasionally with great benefit, but mostly with worrying educational consequences, in my opinion.
For parents navigating this new technological landscape, understanding both the promise and the pitfalls is essential.
AI tools like ChatGPT are becoming part of students’ everyday academic toolkits. When used responsibly and thoughtfully, these technologies can be beneficial. AI can help students brainstorm ideas, explain complex topics, or offer examples and practice problems.
Used alongside teacher guidance, AI can deepen understanding rather than replace effort. It can boost productivity; time-consuming tasks can be greatly reduced with a little help from AI. Sounds good, so far.
But these benefits come with a big caveat: AI should be a supplement, not a substitute for genuine learning.
If students rely on AI to do the heavy lifting for them – copying essays, solving their homework, or skipping effortful and creative thinking – they risk becoming dependent and less confident in their own abilities.
There’s growing concern among teachers that students may use AI in ways that undermine learning. When students copy AI-generated content without understanding it, they become passive consumers of information rather than active learners of knowledge.
I know a local primary school teacher who asked her class to write a short poem at Halloween. While some pupils relished in finding ways to use ‘bat’ and ‘rat’ to form a rhyming couplet, it was clear that others had opted to type the task into ChatGPT and submitted the computer-generated poem as their own.
Needless to say, they felt like they had outsmarted the teacher, but it’s such an unethical way to use AI, and at such a young age, too.
As someone who loves words, the thought of future generations perceiving AI as a convenient replacement for creativity and original thought is gut-wrenching. And, as tempting as it is to use, the students themselves don’t seem to realise that it’s a bad habit to develop.
Whether they care to admit it or not, academic integrity has been compromised and they sure as hell won’t be able to whip out AI for help in an exam.
As parents, we need to talk openly about AI with children and teens who may be accessing it on their devices.
We need to encourage responsible, ethical AI use and remind kids that AI is a tool, not a shortcut.
Clear boundaries must be set when it comes to using AI. This can be tricky, as a lot of us are not remotely as tech-savvy as our offspring.
Another huge issue with the use of AI is its detrimental environmental impact; generating all that information wastes an alarming amount of energy and real-world natural resources: A steep price to pay because we can’t be bothered using our brains.
For teachers and students alike, AI can be a powerful classroom ally – but like any tool, its value depends on how it’s used.
With guidance and grounding, young people can harness AI’s strengths without falling into laziness, over-reliance, or worse.
When it comes to AI and education, I feel like Pandora’s Box has been opened, and there’s no closing it.
Telling students not to use it isn’t likely to make much of a dent in its popularity.
So, let’s aim to give them the skills to navigate this new technology ethically.
We need a fresh generation of creative, critical thinkers, not the regurgitated warblings of AI.
