Is AI doing your homework?
Real learning doesn't come easily
3 November 2025
Teachers everywhere are saying the same thing: students are ChatGPT-ing their way through school and university. Essays, research proposals, coursework – all done in a few clicks.
The temptation must be immense. As the naughty boy I once was, I’d probably be doing the same if I was at school in 2025.
The same old problem
To be fair, AI hasn’t really created a new problem. It’s just exposed an old one. For decades, centuries even, education has largely rewarded performance over understanding. We’ve been teaching kids to tick boxes, pass tests, and regurgitate the “correct” answers.
We’ve mistaken the signs – the essay, the grade, the certificate – for the thing itself: the learning, the real skills and knowledge.
The internet had already started to show the cracks in that system. Now AI has taken this to a whole new level.
Internet Ă— AI: The Good and the Bad
The good part first.
Educational institutions are no longer the gatekeepers of information. The Internet and AI have completely democratised knowledge. Every student has access to the world’s best teachers, resources, and explanations.
With chatbots, education doesn’t have to be one-size-fits-all anymore. It can finally adapt to the individual – it’s personalised, interactive, and endlessly patient.
The dark side of that: it’s never been easier to take the shortcut, to cheat yourself out of learning.
When you can get a polished answer instantly, why wrestle with the problem? Why think deeply? Just tick the box and move on...
AI as crutch
My good friend, Dr. Brieuc Lehmann, teaches statistics at UCL, and he’s been right in the thick of this. “Basically students use it as a crutch. I see it so much with my own students and I don’t really blame them. It is so much easier to put something through ChatGPT than to try and think through it yourself. That’s true for literally anyone, let alone students struggling with homework they don’t want to do.”
When so many students think 70% done is good enough, and AI can get you there instantly, why do the other 30% of work? AI is widening the gap, with strong students using it for better understanding while lower-level students have become totally reliant on it.
“I’ve noticed that the best students are producing stuff which is even better, and the worst students are producing stuff which is passable. So it’s a really useful tool for the best students, but for the average student it’s just masking a lack of understanding.”
AI ≠an Answer Machine
Most people treat AI like Google. Punch in a query, get an answer.
But there’s one habit I think everyone should adopt when using AI: don’t just ask the bot for answers – get it to ask you for answers.
Real learning happens when the AI gets you to do the thinking. Like a good teacher, it elicits your ideas, challenges your reasoning, and makes you explain your logic.
ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude all have a “Study Mode” which gets the bot to guide you through problems and test your understanding, rather than just handing over answers.
AI can be a brilliant Socratic teacher if you let it. You can tell it your goal, your background, how you like to learn, and it starts probing you, challenging you, helping you explain things back in your own words. It can simplify or complicate explanations depending on your current level.
It can make learning genuinely fun.
Can AI make us MORE human?
👆 I normally cringe when I see people write things like this. It sounds like the kind of propaganda an AI would put out about itself. But it’s something worth considering.
Ultimately, the teacher’s job is to create the conditions for learning.
When AI takes over the admin – the marking, the feedback loops, the endless lesson prep – it frees up teachers to do what only humans can: build trust, inspire students, and spark curiosity.
Tools like MagicSchool, SparkSpace, and SchoolAI are already making this possible. Teachers are using them to generate lesson plans aligned with curriculum standards, rewrite materials at different reading levels, and instantly draft assessments or quizzes tailored to each student’s ability.
It’s worth mentioning that AI is not only changing HOW we learn, but also redefining WHAT we should be learning.
As I talked about a few months ago, the most important skills to master in the 21st century will be the ones the machines can’t handle: empathy, judgement, leadership, creative collaboration, and the ability to stay adaptable and keep learning.
The more intelligent our machines get, the more valuable it will become to stay human.
The New Learning Loop
So can man and machine work together in harmony? Here’s how I picture it working…
- LEARN (Student ↔ AI): Students use AI to grasp the basics – quick overviews, simple explanations, and foundational knowledge.
- ADAPT (AI Fine-tunes): The AI tailors content, gives instant feedback, identifies gaps, and adjusts to each learner’s pace and style.
- SUPPORT (Teacher Motivates):Â Teachers step in to motivate, challenge, and provide human context and nuance. They keep curiosity alive and foster deeper thought.
- APPLY (Real-world Practice): Students then use what they’ve learned to solve real-world problems. That's how knowledge is really put to the test – and when it really sticks.
In this model, the teacher’s main job is to spark curiosity, to make the material feel alive, to show students what’s possible and why it matters. It’s a total flip, from top-down (teacher as transmitter) to bottom-up (student as explorer).
The answers are out there. What students need is the motivation and confidence to go looking.
The struggle is the learning
As Seth Godin points out, education is free, learning is expensive. While we have more access to top learning tools and resources than ever before, there’s no shortcut to real understanding. You have to wrestle with ideas for them to stick. The danger with AI is that it skips that struggle entirely.
So the question becomes: how do we keep that challenge in place? And more importantly, how do we inspire learners to want to struggle?
Down the line, if all goes well, we’ll each have a personal AI tutor that genuinely raises our standards. It’ll know when to challenge us, when to simplify, and when to shut up and let us tackle the problem ourselves. This could make people more curious, more ambitious, more capable.
But we’re not there yet. We’re letting young people down by not adapting fast enough. As Dr. Brieuc points out, this is the same generation who already lost crucial years of education during lockdown. They deserve better than to be left without a clear path forward.
The answer won’t be to ban AI or pretend it isn’t happening. The technology has barely just arrived – ChatGPT isn’t even 3 years old! – and it’s not going anywhere soon…
So we should lean in, not shy away.
There’s a lot more I want to cover, but I’ll leave it there for now. At the bottom are some extra resources I came across that represent a wide range of views. Worth a check if you’re interested!
Have you noticed AI creeping into your world – in schools, your workplace, your own habits? Do you see people using AI to think better, or to think less?
3 questions with… Graham Fink
Creative Director + Multimedia Artist
1- What do you wish you’d learned at school?
I wish I’d learned the value of me. My thoughts, my feelings, my way of seeing things. At school you learn about English, history, geography… but no one ever teaches you about you. The importance of your own individuality.
The one thing that makes you different from every other person who’s ever existed. No one told me that.
2- What’s a lesson you had to learn the hard way?
I remember once giving a big talk and everything went wrong. The slides froze, the clicker stopped working, no sound from the speakers. Everyone just staring at me. Gulp. I had two choices. 1: walk off and hide, or 2: keep going. So I just started talking. No plan, no script, just instinct.
It was a bit rambling at first, but then something clicked. Ideas started flowing, I cracked a few jokes, people laughed, and suddenly the room felt alive. The talk felt fresh and energetic.
That moment changed everything for me. I stopped chasing perfection and started trusting the mess. Now I always leave a bit of space for chaos and chance to play their part. That’s often where the best stuff appears. So embrace the unexpected, the human, the bit you could never plan.
3- What advice would you give someone just starting out?
Stand out. Think different. Whatever it takes, make them remember you.
When I was trying to get my first job, I went to the best advertising agency in town. CDP. But the Creative Director told me I was too young. Although they were looking for a senior creative team. Older, wiser, more experienced. He then laughed and jokingly said “Come back in twenty years.” So I did. The very next day.
I dyed my hair white, painted wrinkles on my face, wore a monocle, grabbed a walking stick, and shuffled into reception like an old man. Everyone stopped what they were doing. I said, “I’m back.”
They hired me.
That’s the thing, if you really want something, don’t just apply for it. Perform it. Show them your hunger, your imagination, your nerve. Stand out.
Check out Graham’s brilliant talk here → Fink Different
Interested in all things learning in the 21st century? Sign up to future WIWILAS newsletters → HERE
EXTRA EDUCATION x AI RESOURCES:
→ AI Fluency for Students and Educators - free courses from Anthropic for anyone who wants to up their game with AI
→ The glory and misery of artificial intelligence: a lecturer’s perspective
→ Post-apocalyptic education - What comes after the Homework Apocalypse (+ another post speculating about the future of education)
→ No, ChatGPT Doesn’t Mean You Don’t Need to Learn Things - why it’s more important than ever to know your stuff
→ AI and the Death of the Essay - Reimagining academic writing in the age of large language models
→ AI is ruining education - Wide variety of views from teachers in this Reddit discussion
→ An Unserious Book - Sal Khan brings an infomercial to a (supposed) revolution with "Brave New Words." (contrast with Bill Gates’ glowing review)
→ The Future - A World Where Everyone Loves to Learn - Is this optimistic vision unrealistic? Only time will tell…
