this post was submitted on 19 Jun 2025
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This might be the worst thing about LLMs. In education especially, but in other fields as well, they can undermine and even prevent learning. I mean, how tempting it must be for students to just input their essay prompt and let the model do all the work for them? Why spend days gruelling over a paper that an LLM can (apparently!) churn out in minutes?
Education in the US is already so cooked because of AI. I wonder how China and elsewhere are coping?
This will be interesting to watch for sure. While I'm generally skeptical regarding the alarmist claims regarding LLMs, the impact these tools have on cognition is not well understood. This is particularly problematic in the context of kids whose minds are still developing, and while they're still learning to process information. We've already seen other technology, such as social media, impact attention span and learning. It stands to reason that LLMs will have a negative impact here as well.
Yep, I'm worried US education isn't equipped to tackle the challenges posed by AI. One obvious way to mitigate it is to require in class writing assignments, along with education about the limitations of LLMs (they're not magical truth machines, however confident they may appear). But this would require smaller class sizes, something anathema to education in our neoliberal hellscape.
Indeed, and I'd argue the education system is overly focused on testing where people just cram for the exams and then forget everything after. The point should be to help people develop their reasoning skills, creativity, critical thinking, but none of that really happens in practice. Stuff like LLMs coupled with the public that isn't able to think critically definitely seems like a recipe for disaster.