TRUSTING THE MARKET ON AI ISN’T CONSERVATIVE. IT’S DANGEROUS

Generally speaking, there is no denying that AI is a useful tool. Whether you’re using ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Gemini (take your pick) — no one can say with a straight face that these tools have not made their lives easier, in some regard.

Want to book the most luxurious vacation at the best value, or figure out how much you should tip the movers after yet another relocation? Ask AI.

Want to figure out the best way to revive the puffiness of a down jacket after putting it in the washing machine? Ask AI.

Want help with your golf swing, improving your resume, tips on emailing an obnoxious boss, putting together a presentation, using an Excel formula, stopping a toilet from making an irritating noise, planning an event, getting over the flu — or simply figuring out how to suck less at whatever it is you do? Just ask AI!

But therein lies the problem. Making your professional and personal life more efficient is vastly different than relying on AI to do everything for you — especially when your brain is still developing.

Presumably, if you’re over the age of 25, you can figure out how to do most of the things on the aforementioned list — without relying on AI. It’s simply a second opinion, or an insurance policy.

“I know how to drive from point A to point B, but is there a better route that might save me some time?”

“I sort of know how to boil a lobster, but let me double-check, so I don’t end up looking like Mrs. Doubtfire.”

“Do I really need to pay for the services of a financial advisor, or can I just use Origin?”

But there is a colossal difference between asking AI to help you save time and money, and a sixth grader who uses AI to solve every math problem or write an entire essay for them.

Sure, the assigned book was probably a terrible bore, but the chances are that if students are using AI to write a five-paragraph essay for them, they’re likely also using it to write other papers that should be about their own experiences and not what a machine thinks their personal experiences are.

One 2024 study from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, with the purpose of understanding the effect of AI math assistance tools on students’ learning, clearly outlined the problem:

“The research tasked students with attending a math lesson and then solving related problems using either traditional methods — like notes and textbooks — or AI tools, including a basic version of ChatGPT and a specially developed AI tutor. Initially, students using AI tools showed remarkable improvements, with those using the basic and tutor versions scoring 48 percent and 127 percent better than their peers, respectively. However, this success was short-lived: On a closed-book test of the same skills, the scores of the students who had used AI plummeted… The study revealed that students using the basic ChatGPT engaged in superficial interactions, frequently asking the AI direct questions like ‘What is the answer?’ The researchers concluded that unsupervised use of AI during skill-building phases can become a hindrance — and potentially limit learning.”

In other words, when students did not have AI tools at their disposal, they were essentially clueless about how to solve a problem.

A 2025 study from researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and several other elite institutions, to better understand the effect of AI tools on students’ ability to write and retain information, revealed that “AI tools, while valuable for supporting performance, may unintentionally hinder deep cognitive processing, retention, and authentic engagement with written material. If users rely heavily on AI tools, they may achieve superficial fluency but fail to internalize the knowledge or feel a sense of ownership over it.”

MAJORITY OF AMERICANS OPPOSE AI DATA CENTERS BEING BUILT IN THEIR AREAS

In other words, students who did not take the time to do their own research or formulate their own ideas or arguments were less likely to be able to effectively articulate the conclusions the AI tools provided.

As another academic year comes to a close, with math, reading, and writing scores already facing steep declines in the United States, and with more studies revealing that AI use is stunting students’ ability to think for themselves and problem-solve, it’s worth school administrators assessing how AI should be used in the classroom and whether it is helping or contributing to the problem.

David Keltz is an author and communications strategist based in New York City.