Artificial intelligence (AI) has entered university classrooms quicker than most of us could have predicted, particularly ChatGPT. As a university lecturer, I view ChatGPT as both a promising opportunity and a significant challenge in today’s education. I have personally witnessed the way in which AI has integrated into the lives of students at university in no time.
Students utilize it for finding information, researching new concepts, elaborating on complicated ideas, completing assignments, and improving writing skills. It is clear that these technologies have opened up a new window to personalized learning. However, the increasing use of technology has raised a number of issues for both students and teachers. Loss of concentration and disengagement during lectures is one of them.
Although sometimes the students might be present in class physically, their mind is elsewhere. They might be occupied with their smartphones in search of information rather than paying attention to the lecture being conducted by the professor. While technology can provide you with the answer instantly, it may deprive you of listening, questioning, and discussing in the class.
The practice of asking questions has always been an integral part for both teaching and learning. A good question will certainly make your class more engaging, creative, and intellectually stimulating. Nevertheless, the rise in popularity of ChatGPT raises the issue of students becoming too reliant on ready-made answers rather than on the development of their critical thinking skills.
Students will search for answers through ChatGPT before comprehending the context of a lesson and, therefore, they will be searching for answers rather than understanding the subject matter. Too much dependence on ChatGPT will lead to the lack of students’ intellectual curiosity, questioning skills and independent thinking. ChatGPT can be a useful learning aid, but overreliance on it risks undermining one of the most critical skills in education, that is the ability to ask meaningful questions and deepen one’s own understanding.
Another important issue is the changing function of assignments. In the traditional sense, assignments were aimed at gaining an insight into the students’ reasoning process, analysis of the problem, construction of the argument and ideas. Now, all these things can be easily done by ChatGPT in seconds. It is very convenient, but the overreliance on the AI-based answers might lead to underlearning. It also affects the relations between the teacher and the student. If the student can find any answer through ChatGPT, they may not seek any explanation from the teacher. As a result, the interaction during the lesson becomes limited, and the teacher will not be able to evaluate the student’s understanding, knowledge level and needs. Even though the AI can give you the answer in seconds, it cannot replace the learning that comes through questioning, discussion, and a teacher’s guidance.
However, it would be unfair to blame students entirely. AI has made information more accessible, convenient, and engaging than ever before. Students will naturally be drawn to a technology that can clarify a difficult concept, generate ideas, provide examples, or give instant feedback. The answer is not to ban the usage of AI for the students, but to teach students how to use it responsibly, creatively, and critically.
The real opportunity lies in transforming ChatGPT from a tool that simply provides answers into one that encourages students to think, question, create, analyse, and innovate. Rather than letting ChatGPT complete an assignment, students can be encouraged to use it as a learning partner, like a tool that assists their learning rather than doing their work for them.
The second way in which AI can be utilized is building students’ critical thinking skills. In this scenario, students will not just accept an AI-generated answer but will be asked to evaluate it for any inaccuracy and correctness. In this case, a classroom assignment would start with providing an AI-generated answer to the business issue, and then discussing the assumptions, the evidence, and the strengths and weaknesses of that answer. Thus, AI becomes an instrument for fostering critical thinking of the student.
Another highly useful application of AI is its use to foster creativity and innovations. Using ChatGPT, students can generate several solutions to the business problem, come up with a new product or a service idea, think about various marketing strategies, and even think about the changes to make to the business model itself.
The final concept should reflect personal assessment and creativity of the student. The student can also request more simple explanations which would be easy to understand, examples, practice problems, quizzes, feedback on the writing, or step-by-step explanations to difficult concepts. Such types of additional education outside the classroom can be highly beneficial and enable the student to proceed at their own pace. Moreover, they should be encouraged to apply AI, to verify or enhance their understanding, only after solving the problem on their own.
It is important for the teacher to ensure that ChatGPT is not used by the students as a replacement of their thinking but only as a tool that can help them learn more. It is not wise for teachers to give assignments that can easily be done using AI. Teachers need to come up with learning-focused assignments or activities that will involve students to demonstrate their own understanding. Examples of such activities are real-life case analysis, personal reflection, problem solving tasks, cases about local businesses, projects and questions which make learners explain the process involved in getting to a certain answer.
Teachers can also allow students to present their answers and even debate on the answer given by AI to identify the weaknesses and errors in it and tell which of the answers they prefer and why. ChatGPT can equally be used by teachers to create debates, brainstorming sessions, case studies, quizzes, role plays and problem-solving scenarios. Examination questions should also not be memorization based.
Universities also have a crucial role to play in fostering the responsible, ethical, and effective use of AI. Instead of outright prohibiting the usage of ChatGPT and similar tools, universities should establish clear policies on how AI may be used in learning, assignments, research, and assessment, outlining when and how the students and teachers can use AI tools to enhance the learning experience.
AI-literacy training for both students and faculty can help cover effective prompting, verifying AI-generated information, ethical use of AI, academic integrity, plagiarism, privacy, bias, and the limitations of AI. Regular workshops and faculty development programmes can help teachers reimagine assignments, classroom activities, and exam questions for an AI-enabled learning environment. At the same time, institutional policies should make clear that AI is meant to strictly assist. It is not to be used to replace human thinking, guidance, and effort.
Finally, the future classroom is not about AI versus humans, but about AI supporting humans. AI can offer speed, accessibility, personalized assistance, and new ideas, while teachers can offer mentorship, context, experience, encouragement, ethical guidance, and human connection. Students, in turn, contribute curiosity, creativity, critical thinking, and personal judgment.
The true objective is not to prohibit students from using AI, but to equip them with the skills to use AI tools in ways that strengthen their thinking, learning, and problem-solving abilities. The real challenge is making sure that convenience never replaces curiosity, and that technology remains a tool for learning, not a substitute for it.
Views expressed in the article are his own and do not reflect those of any organisation. Lamiya Mehjabeen is a lecturer of Department of Business Administration at Prime University.
