Cover AI today can write persuasive essays and solve equations faster than a tutor, it’s a tempting shortcut to educational excellence (Photo: iStock)
AI today can write persuasive essays and solve equations faster than a tutor, it’s a tempting shortcut to educational excellence (Photo: iStock)
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AI tools promise to revolutionise education—but will they foster critical thinking or compromise it? We speak to three experts who weigh in on teaching a new generation to balance artificial intelligence with human intuition
There’s a quiet revolution happening in classrooms across the world, and it doesn’t involve flying cars or robot teachers. It’s subtler than that. It’s the way a child googles a question, refines the query, copies an answer from ChatGPT—and calls it “learning.” It’s how a teenager can “write” a passable essay in minutes or how a curious 11-year-old figures out what mental health is, not from a teacher, but from a chatbot.
We’ve long taught our children that thinking is a muscle—something exercised in classrooms, honed in debates, and tested in exams. But what happens when a tool comes along that can do that thinking for them?
AI today can summarise Shakespeare, write persuasive essays, and solve equations faster than a tutor, it’s tempting to see it as a shortcut to educational excellence. But as the dust settles on the initial excitement, educators and parents are left confronting deeper questions. Are we raising a generation of thinkers—or users? Will AI raise the bar for learning or quietly dismantle the foundation beneath it?
Above Will AI raise the bar for learning or quietly dismantle the foundation beneath it? (Photo: iStock)
Will AI raise the bar for learning or quietly dismantle the foundation beneath it? (Photo: iStock)
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“AI has made it easier for students to access information and streamline routine tasks,” says Adam Nguyen, the founder of IvyLink, an organisation which works with high-performing students aiming for elite universities. “But it can also replace the rigour of intellectual reflection.” Nguyen has observed how some students now rely on AI not just for support but for substitution. “The danger is a gradual erosion of problem-solving and writing skills—skills that require time, reflection, and revision to develop,” he explains.
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There is a growing concern among educators that AI is fostering a false sense of competence. Polished essays produced by AI may look impressive, but as Nguyen points out, “students may feel confident in their outputs without truly grasping the material.”
Above Adam Nguyen, founder of IvyLink
Adam Nguyen, founder of IvyLink
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In response, some universities are redesigning assessments. In-class discussions, oral defences, and collaborative projects are becoming more common. “Used wisely, AI can actually enhance critical thinking,” says Nguyen. “But it has to be guided. Just as calculators didn’t eliminate the need for mathematical thinking, AI shouldn’t eliminate the need for analysis and creative problem-solving.”
And this is reflected back in the classrooms of our everyday schools, as Teach for Malaysia CEO Chan Soon Seng observes in real time. “There’s a wide spectrum,” says Chan. “Some teachers are at the forefront of using AI—like one fellow who uses ChatGPT as an oral English tutor. It gives personalised feedback at scale, which he couldn’t do one-on-one. That’s a real innovation.”
The danger is a gradual erosion of problem-solving and writing skills—skills that require time, reflection, and revision to develop
“The question is, how is AI being used as a tool to help you learn versus using it as just an answer generating machine,” Chan reflects. It’s a distinction that’s becoming increasingly crucial as AI tools proliferate in Malaysian classrooms and beyond.
And with potential comes complexity. Students are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their AI use, knowing they can’t submit perfect materials because it would be too obvious. Chan notes that they’re using multiple AI tools to filter their work, making it appear authentically student-generated. Some are even prompting AI to build in deliberate errors.
“It is a big concern,” Chan admits, “but on the flip side, it also just gives students a lot more access to information that they wouldn’t typically be able to have access to.”
Above Chan Soon Seng, CEO of Teach for Malaysia
Chan Soon Seng, CEO of Teach for Malaysia
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He further adds: “I think that if we take a more cautious approach towards how and why we want to deploy AI for the benefit of students learning, versus just doing it, that’s important. You can easily develop an overreliance on technology and not do the thinking for yourself. And so then what happens in a situation where you don’t have access to an AI, and those situations will still exist, right? Are you able to contribute and do what you need to do?”
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Chan advocates for a prioritisation of the process of learning instead of the outcome of that learning. “In Malaysia, we’re very outcome focused. Did you get an A? Did you get a B? Or a C? I think it’s more important to help support students’ thinking, to help students understand the process of how they’re getting to an outcome, and to develop their metacognition along that stage. We need teachers to be able to help students think about their thinking. Why did I make this choice? Why did I prompt AI to do it in this way? How did I use AI to make it better?”
We need teachers to help students think about their thinking. Why did I make this choice? Why did I prompt AI to do it in this way?
Educational and developmental psychologist Melanie Schmitz echoes the significance of a developmental journey that leads to wisdom, not just knowledge in the age of AI.
“Learning is not just about the acquisition of content,” she says. “It’s about the development of executive function, emotional regulation, social skills, and abstract thinking. These are skills AI cannot teach.”
Children, Schmitz explains, need to wrestle with ambiguity and make sense of nuance. “AI is brilliant at delivering fast, well-structured answers. But the province of moral reasoning and critical thinking is more like the many shades of the rainbow.”
One of her deepest concerns is emotional development. “AI companions are consistently affirming. Real humans are not. There’s a risk that children may grow to prefer the emotionally ‘safe’ AI companion to the complexity of real human relationships.”
Above Melanie Schmitz, educational and developmental psychologist
Melanie Schmitz, educational and developmental psychologist
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When asked whether she believes overreliance on AI could impact empathy, Schmitz doesn’t hesitate. “Absolutely. Empathy is learned through messy, imperfect human experiences—through disappointment, reconciliation, and real emotional labour. That can’t be simulated.”
So the age-old question remains: When should children begin using AI tools? It’s a question every parent grapples with, and the experts offer nuanced guidance. Schmitz suggests that children around 8-10 years old begin developing the cognitive sophistication to understand AI as a tool rather than a companion. But she emphasises that “meaningful engagement requires explicit, comprehensive education about AI limitations, biases, and appropriate usage.”
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Her recommendation is conservative: “AI is best used by older individuals. Children need sufficient human interaction and cognitive development before AI exposure to avoid dependency formation.” The principle she advocates is clear: “AI should supplement rather than replace human learning relationships.”
Echoing this, Chan adds, “A student with AI and an effective teacher is much better than a student with just AI on their own. Human guidance to use technology is still critical.”
Children need sufficient human interaction and cognitive development before AI exposure to avoid dependency formation
Rather than rushing to integrate AI wholesale into education, the experts advocate for a more thoughtful approach. Chan draws parallels to previous technology adoption: “If we look at things like devices and screen time, there’s been a push to digitalise things. But actually, the more that we’re seeing devices in school, people are asking if kids should be on devices so much.”
The solution isn’t to ban AI—it’s here to stay and will evolve rapidly. Instead, educators need to focus on AI explicitly designed with child safeguarding in mind, complete with guardrails and educational purposes.
“We really need to think about AI that is designed specifically with safeguards for kids,” Chan emphasises, “both from a protection perspective and from an accuracy perspective because AI continues to have hallucinations and incorrect information.”
More fundamentally, AI’s presence in education demands a return to some foundational principles that may have been lost in recent decades. As Chan puts it, “I actually don’t think it’s a change, but I think it’s actually really grounding education on some of the things that it’s really supposed to do.”
“Teaching kids the thinking process of how they’re using AI to create the best possible outcome” becomes crucial, as does “teaching kids to think about how they’re referencing, how they’re fact-checking.”
Above There is a growing concern among educators that AI is fostering a false sense of competence (Photo: iStock)
There is a growing concern among educators that AI is fostering a false sense of competence (Photo: iStock)
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As Schmitz puts it: “The pandemic should have taught us this lesson well enough by now: humans need other humans.” Chan echoes this sentiment in the context of schools: “Do we still need teachers in an AI world? I think we need them more than ever. We need them from the context of what it means to be human and what it means to learn as a human.”
The path forward requires wisdom, patience, and a commitment to preserving what makes us human while embracing tools that can enhance our capabilities. As these educators make clear, the goal isn’t to resist AI but to ensure it serves human flourishing rather than replacing human connection.
In the end, the question isn’t whether AI belongs in education—it’s already there. The question is whether we’ll use it to amplify our humanity or replace it. The choice, thankfully, is still ours to make.
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Sim Wie Boon is the general manager of Tatler Malaysia. Previously the print and digital editor, Sim hails from the land of the hornbills, Sarawak. Sim is now based in Kuala Lumpur and brings more than a decade of experience in the media industry as a journalist and broadcast producer.
As a self-proclaimed geriatric millennial, he appreciates the finer things in life, from savouring a sip of single malt whisky to relishing in the deliciousness of char siew. While reminiscing about the indie-sleaze era, Sim now finds solace in the soothing tunes of ambient music, staying active through running and occasionally succumbing to the addictive world of doom scrolling.
Follow him on Instagram or Threads at @simwb
