Why AI makes learning more important than ever
The Fear
Why bother to learn how to think, write, or program a computer, if you're going to be up against an army of super-competent machines? Is there any point in learning anything at all, when a random person can just pull out their phone and get the same results as you, with zero effort?
First of all, a reality check.
The current generation of AI is not perfect, and likely never will be[1]. It makes plenty of mistakes and often invents nonsense from whole cloth. Somebody, somewhere needs to deal with that, and until this changes, humans are going to be in the loop.
There's also the fact that AI doesn't actually do anything on its own! A rather telling sign that it may not be as intelligent as people claim. You need somebody to prompt it, and then you need somebody else to use the output.
Ok, fair enough. But AI is certainly a transformative technology and there's no question that things will change because of it. As far as I can tell, the response largely boils down to the following two sentiments:
- People like to do things, and they will continue to do things
- True, but this isn't much comfort if you're wondering whether you'll have a career in 5 years..
- AI isn’t going to take your job, a human who knows AI will
- Ok, but what does this actually mean? How do you know AI?
It's this second point I want to look at. How can you best use AI?
Cheating
My best friend in school was rather clever. He also didn't like to follow the rules. In our last year, he became a home-schooled student, and decided to choose a bunch of interesting subjects to sit exams for. Things like applied mathematics and advanced physics.
The trouble was, he didn't actually study for any of these exams, and when the big day rolled around, he knew absolutely nothing about them. But he had a clever plan.
Because these subjects were so uncommon (only a tiny handful of students were registered for them) it was scheduled for the very end, when most of the school was empty and security was lax. He figured out a way to hide textbooks in the restroom, and during the exam, he would go to check them out, with only a bored student to guard him.
Everything went according to plan. He got the paper, scanned it and then asked to go to the restroom. So he aced the exam, right?
Not exactly[2].
The trouble was, he knew so little about the subject, that he didn't even understand the questions on the paper. When he had the book in his hands, all he could do was thumb through the pages, and hope that some insights would spontaneously emerge. But of course they didn't. After some minutes, he had to just put the book aside, and return empty handed.
You don't want to find yourself in this situation. Even if you have a magical device that can give you all the answers, what use is it if you don't know what to ask?
Even worse, how do you trust what it's telling you is correct?
Vision
Now that's an amusing story, but it's not exactly the same choice facing people today. Because with AI you don't need to understand the question either, you just punch it in and get the answer all the same, it does all the work on both ends.
But here's the thing. Why did my friend choose these exams? It wasn't for the grades, and there was no teacher to impress either, he was home-schooling himself. He choose these exams because he wanted to know these subjects, he was interested in them.
Having a deep understanding of something gives you more than just knowledge, it expands your view, lets you place your aim on things which interest you. You start to see where the gaps are and how to close them.
Now take this kind of person, who has a rich mental map of a subject, and give them access to a tool like AI? That's the person who starts to surge ahead of the rest.
Education has never been about merely amassing knowledge, but integrating that knowledge. When you learn something deeply, and it really clicks, you change. Nobody actually wants to avoid this.
Even my friend, who enjoyed subverting authority and seeking shortcuts, wanted to grow.
Conclusion
The people who are going to benefit the most from AI are the ones who already know the subject inside and out, and want to accelerate their progress. They could do it without AI, it just makes things faster.
Having a deep and rich understanding has always been an advantage, but AI will act as an additional force multiplier going forward.
If you want to see how Loose Thought can help you learn complex topics and integrate your knowledge, sign up to the waiting list and stay informed about our upcoming launch.
You can also follow this blog using your favorite feed reader.