Students will use AI. Here’s what it takes to ensure it strengthens their thinking instead of replacing it. AI isn’t going away — in classrooms or in the broader world our students are preparing to enter. Recent research, including a 2024 systematic review of AI dialogue systems in education lead-authored by Chunpeng Zhai and published in Springer Nature Link, suggests that over-reliance on AI-generated content can weaken critical thinking, analytical reasoning and decision-making. But that same body of work also shows that AI can support learning when it’s structured to promote reflection rather than replacement. For the past two years, my colleagues and I at the University of Toronto — and now through AXL, a Canadian venture studio focused on co-creating human-centric AI — have been working on LearnAid, an AI system built specifically for teaching and learning. LearnAid is now being used at the University of Toronto (U of T) by more than 3,500 students in the computer science department, with plans to expand the platform’s capabilities to other areas of study in the future.
https://universityaffairs.ca/career-advice/teaching-in-the-age-of-ai-shortcuts/
