What can we do to sustain our own writing?
By Talya Abittan (Y9)
Imagine sitting down with your computer doing your homework when you encounter a hard question. Your first instinct is to immediately open ChatGPT and to retrieve that polished answer in a matter of seconds. I don’t blame you; we all have done it at least once. Because why spend extra time on homework thinking with your own brain, while AI can finish it in a matter of seconds, even better than you could have done it? I think it’s pretty clear to us all that AI is quickly becoming a part of students’ lives, which brings me to the question:
“Are teenagers becoming too dependent on AI?” “
“Are we using it as a tool or are we letting it think for us?”
One of the main reasons teens rely on AI is that it gives fast answers without much effort. When school tasks feel difficult or time-consuming, it can sometimes feel easier to ask ChatGPT than to work through the questions step by step. It can be overwhelming, so here is my advice to you:
“Don’t use AI for a skill you want to maintain”
For example: If you want to keep your writing sharp, draft the first version yourself instead of asking AI to write it for you.
But if you want to use AI to translate a message in another language when you don’t need to become fluent yourself, then that is a perfect example of mature AI use.
Personally, I think that AI is the future, and that we should learn how to use it properly so it doesn’t replace our own brains. Unfortunately, that is a skill that not everyone is taught, which leads to over 80% of teens becoming way too dependent on artificial intelligence.
So, where does that leave us?
AI isn’t going anywhere. It’s going to shape the world we work in, the way we communicate, and how we solve global problems. We shouldn’t fear it, and we don’t need to ban it. But we do need to respect what our own minds are capable of.
The greatest risk of artificial intelligence isn’t that machines will become smarter than humans. The real risk is that we voluntarily stop using our own brains and let our ability to think, reason, and create wither away out of convenience.
Don’t let an algorithm steal the satisfaction of working through a hard problem. Don’t let a chatbot become the only voice behind your ideas. Use AI to expand your reach, to translate the unfamiliar, and to test your understanding: but keep your hand on the wheel.
Learn the tools, master the technology, but above all, guard your mind. Because in a world full of artificial thought, genuine human intelligence is going to be the most valuable thing you possess.
