The Impact of AI: What It Means for Educators, Employers and Humanity

The Impact of AI: What It Means for Educators, Employers and Humanity

Recently, I came across an advert from Perplexity AI that stopped me in my tracks.

The advert claimed that in the time it takes a student to make a drink, their AI tool could write an entire assignment.

That moment captures something important about where we are with AI today.

In this post, I explore the impact of AI and how increasing reliance on AI tools may affect learning, professional skills and the way researchers and evaluators approach their work.

AI Is Becoming a Shortcut

AI tools are becoming increasingly capable.

When people learn how to prompt them effectively, the outputs can be surprisingly convincing. In many cases they are also difficult to detect.

This raises obvious questions for educators.

If AI can produce a plausible essay in seconds, traditional assessments may no longer test what we think they test.

Teaching students how to use AI responsibly may ultimately be more effective than trying to ban it entirely.

The Risk of Deskilling

Research highlights a dual effect of AI: levelling and deskilling.

AI tools can help novices produce work that appears highly competent. But if the technology does too much of the thinking, people may never develop the underlying skills themselves.

At the same time, experienced professionals may gradually lose certain capabilities if they rely on AI too heavily.

Output Versus Insight

AI can speed up workflows dramatically.

But producing large volumes of output is not the same thing as developing genuine insight.

For researchers and evaluators in particular, interpretation and judgement remain essential.

Using AI Thoughtfully

If you would like to explore practical ways to use AI responsibly in research and evaluation, my AI training workshops explore how these tools can support your work.

Takeaway: AI should enhance thinking, not replace it.

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