2024-07-09 09:52:09
A new generation is growing up that uses artificial intelligence as a matter of course. A researcher explains the problems this poses.
They use digital technologies naturally and playfully, after all, they grew up with them. When new tools come onto the market, they are one step ahead. It is logical that 14- to 20-year-olds are also magically attracted to AI-based tools such as ChatGPT.
But this time, digital natives are also unsettled. This is what youth researcher Dr. Beate Großegger has observed. How the scientific director of the Institute for Youth Culture Research in Vienna came to this conclusion.
According to a study by the Vodafone Foundation, 74 percent of Generation Z use chatbots, especially ChatGPT. According to Großegger, young people use AI in school and university contexts primarily to save time and energy. ChatGPT has become a very popular research tool among young people.
“While older people still google in the traditional way to get an overview of a topic and compile information themselves, young people use chatbots to search for a summary and a quick result,” she says.
But even if this can save a lot of time, according to Großegger, people’s awareness of quality is changing. Language teaching has shown that thanks to AI tools, there are no longer any very bad texts – but there are also no very good ones. With the help of the ready-made text modules that ChatGPT and Co. use to generate text, most texts would only be mediocre.
Educators and trainers are concerned about what it means when an entire generation delegates its tasks to ChatGPT and forgets how to learn properly. This could also affect the ability to solve problems. “I fear that in the end no one will have any confidence in themselves. In the end we will have a generation that loses the feeling that it can achieve something through personal effort.”
It is not just teaching that is influenced by AI. Großegger also sees the classic final thesis as obsolete. Instead, teachers should focus on action-oriented project teaching and final presentations with a specific topic. The creative development of a project strengthens young people’s experience of self-efficacy.
But what actually happens when a generation is no longer able to work on something on its own? According to Großegger, there is a risk of losing the ability to think conceptually and creatively. This generation could quickly be overwhelmed by sudden problems.
“We are already noticing that the ChatGPT generation is unsettled. They use the time-saving AI, but no longer understand how it works. There is a risk of becoming dependent on the technology. That is why young people in particular are proactively asking politicians to develop a forward-looking digitization strategy. That is something completely new.”