There’s certainly something very tempting about using AI to find the quote you need – often it will supply the citation. You can also use AI for research – with a list of the sources right there for you. So, why shouldn’t your kid use AI?
1. AI takes away the work of discovery
Before there were computers, there were books. Big, heavy, thick books, that you had to look through to find just what you needed. Sometimes you’d look of hours and not find what you needed. Sure, librarians could help point you in a successful direction, but you were responsible for uncovering the fact or quote you needed.
This searching wasn’t just a nuisance; it was a way of learning how to winnow through information to find what you needed. Think about it. You enter a search term and even without AI, you get a list of sources to read. It’s not your job to read through and find good sources; the information you seek is definitely in there. All you have to do is look for the highlighed lines.
2. It takes away from your ability to deal with extraneous material
Yes. In the days before search and AI, you looked at a lot of sources, and it took a lot of time. BUT part of that process was seeing what didn’t fit. It was about forming a picture in your mind of what you needed while honing your ability to recognize what you needed when you needed it.
With searches and AI, all you need to do is pick up the nugget that’s been provided. That is certainly easier, but it leaves your kid without the experience of patience to go through materials themselves to find what they need.
3. They miss so much along the way
Anyone who used a physical dictionary will tell you about the time they were looking up a word and discovered another, wonderful word that was new to them. Or, they will be reading an article about a topic and discover there is an associated topic that is of even greater interest. The surrendipity (unexpected occurrence of something wonderful) is gone.
Bottom Line
Look at it this way: You are looking for info on a topic. You use a search or AI, and it will give you results that answer the precise question you ased. BUT, if you looked into the topic yourself, you might aspects you hadn’t considered. In effect, you’re like a horse with blinders on: a horse that can only look straight ahead.
Rather than give your kid a richer and more nuanced view of the world around them, searches and AI give them tunnel vision – a narrow peek at what is possible. If for no other reason than that, there are serious flaws in the arguement that these uses of technology save us time and show us more – in fact, it can be argued that while they may save us time, they show us a limited selection.