The Intersection of Critical Thinking Skills and AI: Benefits, Pitfalls, and Setting the Scene

The Authority File

Since ChatGPT’s launch last November, artificial intelligence has transformed from the stuff of science fiction to an everyday occurrence in higher education and scholarly communication. In this four-part series, Dr. Leo Lo, Dean and Professor of the College of University Libraries and Learning Sciences at the University of New Mexico, Katie Metzler, Vice President for Books & Social Science Innovation at Sage Publishing, and author and tech philosopher Dr. Tom Chatfield, explore the intersection of critical thinking skills and AI. Parsing through both helpful use-cases and cautionary tales, they review current governance and policy on AI, institutional practices moving forward, and the development of working groups to better understand and unlock AI’s potential applications. Tom, Leo, and Katie bring their unique perspectives to generative AI’s impact on the scholarly environment in the past year and how teaching and learning institutions are responding to these changes.

In the first episode of this four-part series, our guests dive into the crux of the issue: the benefits and pitfalls of critical thinking and generative AI. They discuss the collaborative element of critical thinking, and how that characteristic can guide users’ approach to AI by building thoughtful prompts and checking (seemingly) authoritative sources. Further, Leo chats about the significant flaws in current generative AI, such as data privacy, bias, copyright issues, and overall obfuscation of how these tools are created. Last, the guests reflect on the lack of consensus over whether AI helps or hinders critical thinking. Surfacing the emotional aspect of using AI, they highlight the excitement, wonder, and fear that these tools inspire in both students and faculty.

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