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dyauspitr | on: Failing grades soar with AI usage, dwindling math skills in Berkeley CS classes
It’s like the greatest teacher. Plus it’s not toxic like social media. Banning it would be a shame.
samrus | parent | next
Its not teaching. These people cant pass a the class. They never went through the friction needed to learn
cpncrunch | root | parent | next
It depends how you use it. You can either get it to explain a concept, or do your homework for you. Its a bit like the decision students have to make as to whether to review their material before exams or go out partying.

Overall it just seems like a huge waste of money to piss away the huge tuition cost your parents probably paid.

blululu | root | parent
You can use an llm to get out of doing homework but you can also use it to ask every question you would ever wanted in a 1-1 tutoring session. The problem is kids will use it to cheat on their homework. If we can’t deal with that problem then a ban is necessary. But these things can be phenomenal teachers if you use them properly.
beej71 | root | parent
As an educator, this is exactly what I struggle with. I'm pulling out all the stops to give students every chance to do the hard work and not lean on AI. But there's a good chunk of the class who don't listen to reason. I haven't figured it out yet. They know, logically, they can't pass an interview, but that's apparently a "tomorrow" problem.

The smart ones either use it not at all, or use it to positive effect, like you're saying.

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curun1r | parent | next
This.

It's funny that GP mentioned science fiction as a negative because what immediately springs to mind, for me, is Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age. We literally have the tools to build his "Young Lady's Illustrated Primer" today. We just have to give today's AI a lesson plan to follow and ensure that it never gives the student the answers, and only keeps explaining the concepts in different ways until they click. Wrap that in an iPad app and you've essentially got the exact self-paced learning tool that Stephenson envisioned changing the world.

Sharlin | root | parent
And how do you propose that to work if the internet is still full of AI services that just give you the answer or write your essay? The only way an Illustrated Primer can work if you can’t trivially cheat. Which is to say, it solves nothing compared to the current situation.
Jtarii | parent | next
For every 1 child that uses AI to learn, there are 10 that will use it to bypass learning. It isn't worth it.
beezlewax | parent | next
Social media wasn't always toxic at least not to the degree it is today. LLMs could be potentially a lot worse given the right set of instructions
bulbar | parent
They are great for self-teaching and great to cheat and not learn anything, depending on how you use them.

Main problem is that the technology was very disruptive for education and nobody has figured out yet how to utilize it at scale for schools and universities.