Check It Out: AI is a great tool but critical thinking is a survival skill

By Joan Janzen

Why do intelligent people love clever logic puzzles? Answer: Because they require critical thinking, the one thing people avoid more than cardio.

On a recent podcast, Kirk Cameron stressed the importance of kids learning critical thinking as they utilize AI. He said AI is a valuable tool, but critical thinking is a survival skill.

Kirk shared his cardiologist friend’s experience attending a session to increase his confidence in AI; however, the end result was he became more sceptical of this tool, which he loved. In order to test AI, he chose a ridiculous year in the distant future and asked AI which months contained a Friday the 13th. He also accurately calculated the correct mathematical answer in advance.

In just a matter of seconds, AI confidently announced not only a wrong answer, but an impossible answer, creating a calendar where February had 33 non-consecutive days.

“The overconfident promises of AI didn’t sit well with him,” Kirk said. “It proves AI can be wrong while sounding spectacularly confident.”

This is important for children to realize, as they belong to a generation that possesses more information than any generation in history but understands far less.

He advised that teaching kids how to ask AI questions isn’t enough; they have to understand the underlying subject well enough to recognize when AI gets it wrong.

“If they don’t understand math, how will they detect an impossible calculation?” Kirk asked. “If they don’t understand history, how will they recognize a made-up quotation from a founding father?” If they don’t understand the subject, a wrong answer can sound believable.

Young people and older people need to ask themselves if the answer makes sense, if it’s consistent, if there’s evidence to support it and if they can check original source documents.

“That requires real knowledge,” he continued to explain. “Kids need to understand grammar, mathematics, and real science and history.”

You can’t detect a counterfeit unless you know the genuine article. People are able to recognize a counterfeit hundred-dollar bill by first examining and studying authentic currency.

A wise proverb says, “Only simpletons believe everything they’re told.”

“Tools have to remain tools. If they replace good judgment, wisdom or discernment, then we become the fools,” he observed.

The future doesn’t belong to students who can ask AI questions. Anybody can do that. The future belongs to students who recognize when AI delivers a false answer with complete confidence.

“We need to teach kids how to think,” he advised. We need teachers and parents who are instructing children to think critically and pursue wisdom.

He suggested giving your kids or grandkids problems to solve without technology, and have them calculate answers in their heads.

This past summer a young man was helping his dad sell treats at a community festival. He was confidently preparing treats, giving them to customers along with the correct change he had calculated. I was amazed when he told me he was only 10 years old, and yet he was as capable as an adult.

Parents and grandparents can help train children to perform mathematical calculations in their heads and to spot counterfeits by understanding the truth.

“Teach them to think. Have them examine original source documents,” Kirk advised. “And when AI gives them answers, require them to verify its claims.”

They can do this by asking questions. How do they know it’s true? What source did they check? Can they find any contradictions? We can’t be satisfied with kids who are simply told what to think.

“We need kids who love truth more than convenience and are not intimidated or duped by confident voices,” he said.

Unfortunately, just like humans, AI has its own biases. One person commented, “ChatGPT is biased against Jews and Christians. I called it out and AI admitted it.”

A second comment offered more advice. This person wrote, “One thing I do to check the work is to ask AI a question, then start a fresh chat with the same exact question and typically get different information.”

Another individual submitted a helpful comment and wrote, “As a programmer and data analyst, AI is very useful for speeding up software development, but if you use it to replace your learning and decision making, you are in trouble.”

We have to learn how to harness and steward AI as an amazing tool; however, tools have to remain tools. If they replace good judgment, wisdom or discernment, then we become the fools.

Critical thinking will never become obsolete. And in the new age of AI, it is an essential survival skill.