Permanent ‘training wheels’ of AI ‘inhibits student learning‘ – Times Higher Education (THE)
Academics at UCL’s law school challenge sector’s embrace of technology, claiming students’ over-reliance on ‘shortcuts’ damages skills acquisition
A leading UK law school has criticised students’ use of artificial intelligence (AI), arguing that the technology is often used to “cognitively offload tasks in a way that hinders learning”.
In a challenge to the sector’s embrace of generative AI use by students – as long as it is disclosed – scholars at UCL’s Faculty of Laws claim educators are selling their students short by allowing chatbot use, arguing that such “shortcuts to independent learning” are “tempting” but “undermine basic learning processes”.
A new position paper by UCL Laws’ dean and vice-deans explains that the faculty is using assessment which “guarantee[s] that AI does not substitute for the skills or knowledge acquisition being generated”.
“There are voices arguing that heavy use of AI in, for example, coursework, is acceptable – these tools will be available in the workplace, so why should students not have access to them in a university? Perhaps they can be used in assessment, as long as they are acknowledged? We disagree,” states the paper, published on 6 May.