"A recent Current Affairs article argues that artificial intelligence is destroying the university and learning itself. It is a forceful critique, animated by a familiar techno- anxiety. The article presents an emerging dystopian curriculum where students are offloading thought to machines, faculty are losing the ability to assess genuine understanding, and institutions are quietly hollowing themselves out in the name of efficiency. The conclusion is stark, and the grade is an A-for artificial. AI, we are told, is eroding the conditions that make education meaningful."
"First, this argument deserves attention. But it rests on a hidden assumption that the institutional form we call "higher education" was still meaningfully aligned with learning before AI arrived. I'm not convinced it was. What artificial intelligence is destabilizing may not be learning at all, but an educational temple that quietly displaced "cognitive veritas" with substitutes that don't just feel correct, but are ready for translation to Latin"
AI is revealing that many educational practices substituted ritual, signaling, and compliance for genuine cognitive work and judgment. Knowledge has shifted from static, memorized maps to dynamic, living webs that demand interpretation and contextual judgment rather than rote recall. The real danger lies in fluent performance that conceals lapses in thought rather than in sheer ignorance. Technological change often replaces one definition of value with another, exposing brittle institutional forms that prioritized credentialing and performative correctness. The response must center on cultivating judgment, critical engagement, and durable cognitive skills rather than preserving hollow forms.
Read at Psychology Today
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