University of Minnesota report warns use of AI poses ‘serious’ threat to student learning

A new report from the University of Minnesota finds that generative artificial intelligence has the potential to seriously disrupt critical learning processes for students, especially those in elementary school.

“We’ve been extremely concerned about the public discourse around this topic and the approach to learning as if it’s a monolithic thing, when in fact … it’s quite complex,” said Panayiota Kendeou, a professor in the department of educational psychology at the University of Minnesota and lead author of the report.

She and other learning scientists surveyed experts on AI for their study and found a lack of high-quality research on how artificial intelligence affects learning. But there is also broad consensus among experts that introducing AI to students in certain contexts could cause “severe and unilateral” disruption to critical aspects of learning.

“Casual and careless use of general-purpose GenAI can threaten the learning processes needed to memorize new ideas… as well as the higher-order thinking needed to deeply understand and use those ideas in new ways,” the report’s authors wrote.

Kendeou said experts have expressed particular caution when it comes to introducing AI to primary school students because of the skills introduced and practiced at that age.

When it comes to writing, for example, Kendeou said students need to learn how to write down their thoughts on their own before using a tool that does that task for them.

“First, give the student the opportunity to work independently so that their ideas and free will are preserved and they have the opportunity to develop the skills we want them to develop,” Kendeou said.

She added that once students have already learned critical thinking, writing and other foundational skills, experts have suggested that generative AI could be used in useful ways to test ideas, develop an argument and seek out more resources.

“If I were a teacher, I definitely wouldn’t give access to my students if my goal is for them to develop certain skills,” Kendeou said. “I would give access to such tools to my students if they have already developed a certain level of these skills… and I want them to be able to practice… test themselves to be more creative, etc.”

According to experts, several aspects of learning are at risk: cognitive thinking, learning skills, collaboration, socio-emotional development and human relationships.

“With AI in education, we cannot afford to go wrong, because education is all we have to educate the next generation of citizens,” Kendeou said. “The only way to do that is to center and prioritize our children and our teachers. Once they are at the center, many decisions will fall into place.”