Is ChatGPT/AI making kids stupid?

bigmike20vt said:
i guess it may be part of it......... but i tend to blame social media and youtube more tbh.

itsnt the argument against AI similar to the one used against calculators 40 years ago?...... sure if you utterly rely on it its bad, but as another tool in your locker then it is a good thing imo.
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Calculators don't tend to be wrong. :p

As far as I understand, the current 'iteration' of AI is what is called Narrow, with the next level being General, and above that Superintelligence.

We're approaching Artificial General Intelligence, which is better than humans in many domains, but not all. When we reach that, AGI will be on par with humans on every 'mental' level. Superintelligence is the equivalent of our relationship with dogs, our dogs love us and need us, but they don't know what we get up to for the majority of our time.
 
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Disco_P said:
Alec from Technology Connections had the same observation but theorised it was due to the way younger generations interact with the internet. They go on it to see what it serves them whereas older folk tend to go on it to find a thing. Therefore if they don't know something, well that's that as it either gets delivered to them or not but older generations know how to find stuff out cause that is how we use the internet, and books and asking the right people.
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In my opinion that is too much of a generalisation, I see quite a few older people using the internet to reinforce their beliefs even when it means wading through reams of information conclusively dismantling what they believe to find that one bit which supports what they want to be the truth...

Personally I think AI is more a symptom than it is a cause in the context of what the OP is talking about, even when well intentioned I think what younger generations are being taught and the manner it is being taught along with their consumption of social media, especially some of the utter rubbish which is on TikTok goes more to the root of it.


I also don't think it helps where as a generalisation parents are acting more like minders than parents - my generation it was far more common to have one parent who stayed at home bringing their kids up or where both parents worked kids had to learn much more to think for themselves.
 
Rroff said:
I also don't think it helps where as a generalisation parents are acting more like minders than parents - my generation it was far more common to have one parent who stayed at home bringing their kids up or where both parents worked kids had to learn much more to think for themselves.
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unfortunately for many having 1 full time parent simply isnt a choice.
I personally do feel a little guilty about how much we have to rely on after school and holiday clubs.......... but if we want to have a nice home to live in then both me and his mum need to work.... house prices have gone up far far more than most peoples salaries have and the notion of the majority of people being able to buy a house off of a single salary is outdated.

(its not like i live in a mansion or anything... its a 3 bed 1960s ex council house semi - albiet a very good sized garden for a town house which allowed us to extend it considerably)
 
bigmike20vt said:
unfortunately for many having 1 full time parent simply isnt a choice.
I personally do feel a little guilty about how much we have to rely on after school and holiday clubs.......... but if we want to have a nice home to live in then both me and his mum need to work.... house prices have gone up far far more than most peoples salaries have and the notion of the majority of people being able to buy a house off of a single salary is outdated.

(its not like i live in a mansion or anything... its a 3 bed 1960s ex council house semi - albiet a very good sized garden for a town house which allowed us to extend it considerably)
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Yeah - it is a reality for most people now that both parents have to work and house prices have been a big part of that - personally I think that is a major factor in the ruin of this country though it isn't maybe obviously so.
 
bloodiedathame said:
Calculators don't tend to be wrong. :p
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No, but if you can't do the rough mental arithmetic in your head to get a ball park figure then you don't realise you've maybe mis-typed something into the calculator and just believe what it says, I've seen that numerous times over the years.

Also, sales/service people who can't do the simplest of calculations to work out splitting a bill, or the correct change and have to use a calculator.
 
Malevolence said:
I don't know if it's ChatGBT or what, but GenZ are just plain dumb as ****. I know they've attended school, college or university but they just come across as thick and uneducated, but it's not just that - they're stupid with it and seem to have no common-sense at all. Some of the **** we see at work is unbelievable.
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Education has changed. Worked in if for 20 years now and currently it just seems kids are taught to pass exams, most of them have a very limited knowledge of a subject bar the few keywords and meanings they have had drilled into them to pass an exam.

Was at a wedding at the weekend with a few teachers and they were talking about how when they were at school everyone was told you need to learn to do maths as you wont be carrying a calculator around with you all the time, now with phones we do so maybe AI is like that. A non teacher who works in advertised chimed in saying loads of jobs within his industry are going as an ad campaign that would normally take 3 months and a team of 5 to put together can now be done by AI in 5 minutes. The calculator/phone comparison doesn't work as it doesn't matter if someone did the math in their head or on a calculator you still needed someone to do the calculation in the first place, with AI you don't need that person its good that kids are embracing AI but its not going to translate to a workplace as if they need to use AI to do their job then AI can do their job so why are they needed.
 
I was told the exact same thing when I was a kid about Google.

Some kid would copy and paste a Wikipedia article and submit it as homework and get rightly mocked.

Meanwhile if you had half a brain you could rephrase some stuff online and get a decent grade - because you had the sense to present it properly.

I don't think this is massively different. You can get some way by regurgitating AI but sooner or later you'll get found out. At that point you can decide whether to continue bumbling through life and screwing up or whether you're going to start thinking for yourself.
 
bazaarboy said:
Ultimately any tool will de-skill us a bit, and that's the sacrifice you make for the ease, convenience and benefit of using the tool
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Used properly I wouldn't say it de-skills. It provides a lot more potential for learning and knowledge development.

A calculator might de-skill the ability to add and subtract, but it provides access to many more functions that ultimately up skill the output you're capable of.

Im using AI quite a bit for a degree course I'm doing and I'm using it to enhance my learning not replace it.
 
It's just more skills lost. The idea that you are effective because you have access to the internet and can immediately search an answer ignores the context that a breadth of knowledge brings and the ability to make logical jumps. The graduates at work use ChatGPT all the time. They can find out what the correct clearances are for a 20 inch white metal journal bearing is or how large the hydrodynamic wedge is in more seconds probably, but wouldn't have the first clue what it meant in a tangible sense how to measure it or when they should or shouldn't adjust it. It gives them an others the impression they have expertise because the can recant something provided to them on a platter but in truth the expertise is puddle deep.
 
PlacidCasual said:
They can find out what the correct clearances are for a 20 inch white metal journal bearing is or how large the hydrodynamic wedge is in more seconds probably, but wouldn't have the first clue what it meant in a tangible sense how to measure it or when they should or shouldn't adjust it
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anyone else read the above and think of this? ps time stamp not carried over, 15s is where it is (kind of) relevant :D

 
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I replied to a discussion in the careers forum:

The AI is taking our jerbs thread

I do worry about young people that rely on it more than actually learning core information and skills I have a somewhat controversial opinion which is that learning information is getting less important in the modern world, and that it's more important to a) know what information you need and...
forums.overclockers.co.uk forums.overclockers.co.uk
 
bigmike20vt said:
anyone else read the above and think of this? ps time stamp not carried over, 15s is where it is (kind of) relevant
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A deliberate rhetorical choice, some things are esoteric and whilst ChatGPT might give you the ability to feign knowledge and experience it's not the real thing. Apologies if it didn't stick it's landing.
 
PlacidCasual said:
A deliberate rhetorical choice, some things are esoteric and whilst ChatGPT might give you the ability to feign knowledge and experience it's not the real thing. Apologies if it didn't stick it's landing.
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No its fine.... you were clear, it just made me smile is all! (i should have added a smiley to make clear i was just joking)
 
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