AI: Sidekick, not Supervillain!

[12 December 2023]

Students are widely using ChatGPT (91% have tried it, 60% use it regularly), creating a significant challenge for educators who must choose between banning it (difficult to enforce and detect) or allowing responsible use.
The core learning dilemma: Research shows that effective learning requires "desirable difficulties" and mental effort. However, AI can make work too easy, potentially bypassing the cognitive struggle necessary for deep understanding and skill development.
The responsibility burden: Students must learn to self-regulate their AI use—distinguishing between helpful applications (like understanding complex texts) versus harmful shortcuts (like having AI write papers)—which places significant responsibility on young people whose decision-making abilities are still developing.

[Source]

🛠 Tools

1. Large Language Models

A Large Language Model (LLM) is a type of artificial intelligence system built using neural networks that has been trained on vast amounts of text data from books, websites, and other written sources. These models learn patterns in language and can generate human-like text by predicting what words or phrases are most likely to come next in a given context. LLMs power applications like chatbots, writing assistants, and code generators by using their learned understanding of language structure, facts, and reasoning patterns to produce coherent and contextually appropriate responses.

Claude

[25 August 2024]

Let Us Show You How GPT Works — Using Jane Austen (Published 2023)

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A (basic) understanding of how they work helps to appreciate what they output.

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2. The Big Three LLMs

https://chatgpt.com/
1. from OpenAI
https://gemini.google.com/
1. from Google
https://claude.ai/login
1. from Anthropic

[Source]

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It is worth exploring several different models as they have individual strengths. Asking each LLM to do the same task is a good way to compare their relative strengths.

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3. AI apps

[28 May 2025]