Last week I attended and spoke at an International Leadership and Management Conference in Liverpool UK. It is an annual conference where academics and practitioners come together to share and explore the latest research and new trends on leadership. One of the key themes discussed that impacted me was the session on how technology and AI is impacting on our next generation’s ability to critically think.

Critical thinking is the human process of actively analysing, evaluating, and synthesizing information gathered from observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, and communication. It involves questing assumptions, evaluating facts and trends, and assessing conclusions. Critical thinking typically involves:

• Challenging the status quo;
• Calling out things that perhaps do not seem, feel, or sound right;
• Reflecting on a performance or lived experience; and
• Questioning statements or claims made by others.

Critical thinking is what builds wisdom and fuels intuition and deduction. It is a key part of learning, continuous improvement, creativity, and self-reflection.

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it
– Aristotle

Research on AI presented at the conference by Professor David Wilkinson and his team from Oxford University presented some quite compelling themes around AI and its potential impact on critical thinking. Some of the themes presented around AI (such as Chat GPT) that I found interesting:

• AI is an algorithm based around language patterns (not facts);
• Its data is refined to the publicly available data (such as Google) but cannot access data behind paywalls (data you must buy or pay a subscription to access); 75 per cent of all research is behind paywalls. Hence, what is presented on Chat GPT, and other platforms is based on the 25 per cent publicly available data;
• It presents its data in a “persuasive” language – hence presenting its data as fact;
• 85 per cent of students they researched (Secondary and University levels) believed what they read on AI platforms is factual and hence does not require validation/ checking; and
• AI has no ability to critically think or dispel myths or falsehoods – this requires a human interface.

I found this a bit scary. As humans, it takes time for us to trust a reliable source. We tend to listen to people, process what they are saying, and then formulate our own opinion (critical thinking). However, AI treats all accessible data as factual, leaving no room for evaluation or fact-checking (critical reflection).

The third-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the majority.
A second-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the minority.
A first-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking.
– AA Milne (Author Winnie the Pooh)

The conclusion I came away with was that AI is not intelligence! Most AI comes from the first page of a “Google Search!” It is not fact-checked, audited or edited by any human. It merely uses language patterns to ascertain its data, whether it is right or wrong. Unfortunately, many of the next generation treat AI as if a human is talking to us and treat what they are reading as fact – without the need to critically think.

Some themes for leaders: AI may impact our next generation’s ability to critically think in the following ways:

• An over-reliance on technology: Rather than researching things and exploring the veracity of facts, technology is being used to instantly gain access to knowledge, much of which is perhaps untested or not correct;
• Loss of the ability to reason: There is a reliance on AI-generated answers without critically evaluating the information, leading to passive consumption rather than active engagement with content;
• Zero recall on what is written: There is a huge difference between ideating, authoring and editing content, rather than cutting and pasting an AI-generated response. If you research and author your own content, there is a much higher likelihood of remembering it;
• Decline in creativity and problem-solving: It is much easier to feed a problem into an AI platform and receive a response than do the hard work for yourself;
• Surface level understanding: Researching and fact-checking something forces a process of critical thinking, evaluation, and opinion creation. Any use of an AI-generated process greatly diminishes the ability to formulate an informed view;
• Quick fix syndrome: Needless to say, AI greatly reduces the time to access and present knowledge. What AI does not do is validate the authenticity and accuracy of data. Access to data does not necessarily build knowledge;
• Decline in reading and research: AI reduces the need for people to research, read, and interpret data. This a skill that requires constant application and practice;
• Confirmation bias: This is where people select AI data and information that confirms their own biases and opinions without the need for questioning or evidence-based validation.

Over the next ten years there will be an explosion of how businesses, governments, educational institutions and families use and apply Chat GPT and AI tools. However, all will require human oversight, that is, someone to apply critical thinking, wisdom and intuition in order to question if something does not seem or feel right, or fact-check the AI-generated content that is being presented.

Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of critical thought
– JF Kennedy

Finally, critical thinking cannot be replaced by AI (yet). Addressing the potential opportunities and risks AI presents requires a multi-faceted approach. This could include:

• Human oversight on any application of AI;
• Reforming educational practices to preserve the skill of critical thinking, whilst leveraging the application of AI:
• Insisting any gathered information (no matter how generated) is synthesised to align with evidence, observation, experiences, and trends: and
• Promoting the importance of reading, research, critical thinking, and the challenging of assumptions into our next generation.

We see examples time and time again where there is an over-reliance on technology things go wrong. How often has someone followed the directions on Google Maps down a dead end – without questioning the directions? If a human was overseeing or fact-checking and thinking “this does not seem right” perhaps the publication of incorrect information will be averted.

Education is not the learning of facts, but the education of the mind to think critically
– Albert Einstein

Leadership Lesson

Critical thinking is a foundation of leadership.
It is incumbent on employers, parents, teachers and community leaders to enforce and endorse the need for our next generation to critically think, and not just blindly accept AI-generated information as fact.
Critical thinking needs constant practice and application, otherwise it will diminish over time

Facta Non-Verba – Deeds Not Words