Anecdotally, as an educator, I am already seeing a digital divide occurring, with regard to accessing AI. This is not even at a premium/pro subscription level, but simply at a 'who has access to a device at home or work' level, and who is keeping up with the emerging tech.

I speak to kids that use LLMs all the time to assist them with their school work, and others who simply have no knowledge that this tech exists.

I work with UK learners by the way.

What are some productive ways students are using LLMs for aiding learning? Obviously there is the “write this paper for me” but that’s not productive. Are students genuinely doing stuff like “2 + x = 4, help me understand how to solve for x?”

My son doesn't use it but I use to help him with his homework. For example, I can take a photograph of his math homework and get the LLM to mark the work, tell me what he got wrong, and make suggestions on how to correct it.

Absolutely. My son got a 6th grade AI “ban” lifted by showing how they could use it productively.

Basically they had to adapt a novel to a comic book form — by using AI to generate pencil drawings, they achieved the goal of the assignment (demonstrating understanding of the story) without having the computer just do their homework.

Huh the first prompt could have been "how would you adapt this novel to comic book form? Give me the breakdown of what pencil drawings to generate and why"

At the time, the tool available was Google Duet AI, which didn’t expose that capability.

The point is, AI is here, and it can be a net positive if schools can use it like a calculator vs a black market. It’s a private school with access to some alumni money for development work - they used this to justify investing in designing assignments that make AI a complement to learning.

I challenge what I read in textbooks and hear from lecturers by asking for contrary takes.

For example, I read a philosopher saying "truth is a relation between thought and reality". Asking ChatGPT to knock it revealed that statement is an expression of the "correspondence theory" of truth, but that there is also the "coherence theory" of truth that is different, and that there is a laundry list of other takes too.

I recently saw someone revise for a test by asking chatgpt to create practice questions for them on the topics they were revising. I know other people who use it to practice chatting in a foreign language they are trying to learn.

Paste the lecture notes in and talk to it

It has been bad for not having access to a device for at least 20 years. I can’t imagine anyone doing well in their studies with a search engine.

The anology I would use is extended phenotype evolution in digital space as Richard Dawkins would say. Just as crabs in oceans use shells to protect themselves.

Even if its not making you smarter, AI is definitely making you more productive. That essentially means you get to outproduce poorer people, if not out-intellectualize them