AI in Education Undermines Authentic Learning and Threatens Academic Purpose
Source: Jay Caspian Kang. "The Despair of the Professor in the Age of A.I. | The New Yorker." May 26, 2026. www.newyorker.com
The Gist
AI is ruining education because students use it to cheat on assignments instead of learning to think for themselves. This prevents the real purpose of school - having students struggle with ideas and grow intellectually through guidance from teachers. The result is fake learning where students get degrees without actually developing their minds.
Conclusion
AI in classrooms is fundamentally damaging education by preventing authentic intellectual development and threatening the core purpose of academic institutions
Premises
- Students are increasingly using AI to complete assignments, eliminating the struggle and personal growth that comes from developing their own ideas
- Professors can no longer assign traditional papers because 70-100% of students will use AI, forcing them to abandon proven pedagogical methods
- AI-generated work appears superficially competent but lacks genuine understanding, creating a 'simulacrum of education' where students pretend to learn
- The meaningful transfer of knowledge and inspiration from professor to student - the core value of education - is being blocked by AI mediation
- Students are becoming 'much less cognitively capable' as they rely on AI rather than developing their own thinking skills
- Online education has become particularly compromised, turning into 'diploma mills' where authentic assessment is nearly impossible
- Even students recognize the problem, showing 'disdain for teachers who just let AI use happen' and wanting to be held to higher standards
Assumptions
- The struggle to develop original ideas is essential to education and personal growth
- Direct human-to-human transfer of knowledge and inspiration has irreplaceable value
- Authentic learning requires students to grapple with material themselves rather than outsourcing thinking to AI
- The current trajectory of AI adoption in education will continue without significant intervention
- Traditional pedagogical methods (essays, papers, independent thinking) are superior to AI-assisted alternatives