It is quick, effortless and capable of generating answers or explanations with a single click on a keyboard. Although some might think AI has no downsides, its addictive nature can pose serious consequences to students’ learning abilities and independent thought processes.
“The concern is that when AI becomes the default method for completing tasks, students may bypass the productive struggle that normally occurs during learning,” said Dr. Gary Zhai, lecturer at Central Queensland University and co-author of a 2024 research study detailing the effects of AI on students. “This struggle is important because it stimulates deeper thinking and encourages learners to explore different strategies before arriving at a solution.”
75% of students use AI for their homework according to a 2024 study, Zhai said.
“[Cognitive function] is just like muscle,” said Zhai. “You use it. You build it. You don’t use it. You lose the muscle mass.”
Activity in the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that is responsible for planning, working or problem solving, is reduced when students use AI too much, Zhai said.
“When learners rely heavily on AI to generate intermediate reasoning steps, they may engage their working memory less frequently, becoming more passive recipients of information rather than actively processing and organizing it themselves,” Zhai said.
According to Yingying Wang, associate professor of Special Education and Communications Disorders at University of Nebraska-Lincoln and co-author of a research study examining AI’s effects on cognitive effort, independent and critical thinking processes is the key for education.
“Critical thinking is a skill [that helps] you to be resourceful, to apply a knowledge more broadly, expand your knowledge you learn in a particular context and to actually apply for many areas,” said Wang. “So when you have that skill, you can be very confident in anything you do.”
“Depending on the task, you can sometimes ask AI to handle it directly,” said Wang. “But when it comes to creativity, you don’t want to rely on AI. This is overreliance. You gradually lose the ability to think independently, and you, as a trainee, will not be able to build critical thinking skills.”
One example of overreliance is when students ask AI to write a summary and submit the AI-generated response to a teacher, Wang said.
“Instead of telling [AI] to write for you, you ask them to critique your work,” Wang said.
Students should look at the critique carefully to think how they are going to address it on their own, Wang said.
According to Zhai, students’ overuse of AI reduces their sense of ownership of the work, along with their competence or comprehension.
“You don’t have the struggle,” said Zhai.“You don’t have the urge.You don’t have the competitiveness. You just [use AI] as a daily routine, so you don’t have the feeling of independently [succeeding] in your work.”
Zhai encourages his students to use AI to expand their thinking, not replace it.
“It starts with the parents, starts with the teachers, starts with the educators [in] how we fully establish the concept [of] how to avoid overuse, overreliance,” Zhai said.