If I Did It (A.I.)
Soon after O.J. Simpson was acquitted of murder in 1995 in the so-called trial of the century, he wrote a book titled If I Did It that all but confirmed his guilt, if only in the public’s imagination.
Spot another mea culpa as we take on the subject of A.I. generally and Chat GPT particularly as it swallows human consciousness itself. No, you luddite, A.I. is just a tool, another advance in the march of civilization, like Gutenberg's printing press. Some had actually dismissed it as a novelty when we first took on the subject a couple of years ago, just a month after Chat GPT’s introduction (click: MM 12/19/22 Chat GPT).
Shame on anyone who knowingly takes credit for what is essentially mechanical plagiarism, as authentic as one of those anthropomorphic sex dolls (though not speaking from personal experience, mind you). Life curdles into irony when writing, once described as thought on fire, is produced via algorithms with simple bare prompts e.g. “context, tonal goals, even persona.”
Our focus article is a report from ground zero with this account by a Yale professor of creative writing about the way such tools are reshaping how we think, learn, and write (click: This Is What AI Is Doing To Students). Creative writing, for crying out loud.
Shame. On the other hand, time is short and a deadline is looming, which means efficiency must govern, so here below is my MM introduction. That is, If I Did It:
In a rapidly evolving digital landscape, the rise of generative AI tools like ChatGPT is reshaping how we think, learn, and write. In a recent reflection, writer and Yale professor Meghan O’Rourke describes her own journey grappling with AI’s place in education and creativity. Initially charmed by the technology’s capabilities—its helpful tone, speed, and ability to ease the 'invisible labor' of daily tasks—she soon found herself questioning the deeper cognitive and emotional costs of relying on machines to think for us.
As students increasingly turn to AI for drafting, outlining, and even completing assignments, traditional approaches to learning and assessment are being upended. Research suggests that the use of AI for writing can reduce cognitive engagement, memory retention, and the sense of ownership over one’s ideas—raising concerns about what O’Rourke and others call "cognitive debt."
More than just a critique, her essay invites us to think critically about the future of learning: How do we preserve the value of attention, creativity, and deep thinking in a world where AI tools can perform many mental tasks faster and more fluently than we can? Are we at risk of flattening our intellectual experience in favor of efficiency?
As we explore the future of cognitive learning, O’Rourke’s perspective offers a timely and urgent lens: How do we design educational systems that both harness the strengths of AI and cultivate the uniquely human skills—reflection, invention, and care—that define true understanding?
Let’s discuss.
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