Parents, Your Job Has Changed in the A.I. Era

As the new school year gets underway, artificial intelligence is appearing in many aspects of teaching and learning. Spurred by the hopes that these tools will improve and personalize children’s learning, the large commercial A.I. labs are hard at work: Google rolled out 30 new education tools and features on Gemini in June; in late July, OpenAI introduced ChatGPT’s student tutor study mode.

Parents should be very wary about children having unfettered access to a new digital technology. We saw social media wreak havoc on young people’s emotional states soon after they debuted more than 20 years ago. With A.I., it isn’t just children’s emotional well-being that’s at risk — it’s also their cognitive development. Parents can’t afford to wait for someone else to protect their children. They are, like it or not, the first line of defense and oversight.

Humans are pros when it comes to cognitive offloading, meaning using tools to free up mental processing space and avoid thinking. Why use a map when GPS can navigate? Students behave the same way when there’s a tool like ChatGPT or Gemini readily available to think for them.

But when it comes to learning, the acts of thinking and struggling are what foster critical thinking skills. Brains, like bodies, develop as they are used. That’s especially important for students, whose brains are still maturing.

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