Artificial intelligence is becoming an increasingly important part of our lives, changing the way we study, work, communicate and solve problems. But its impact goes beyond technology: it also affects how people develop their abilities, independence and self-esteem.
This is particularly important for children and teenagers, who are still building their identity and understanding of their own capabilities. People develop confidence through experience: they try, make mistakes, try again and eventually succeed. This process helps them discover what they are capable of. If many tasks are constantly delegated to artificial intelligence, however, it can become harder to distinguish between what we truly know how to do and what we can achieve with the help of technology.
Learning to write, solve a problem, find an answer or develop an idea is not simply about reaching a final result. It is about building skills that remain within us. The result produced by AI and the competence developed by an individual are not the same thing.
The same question applies to adults. AI can be an extraordinary learning tool: it can help us understand complex subjects, organize ideas, study and face new challenges. But we should ask ourselves whether we are using it to strengthen our abilities or gradually replacing our abilities with those of the technology.
Human beings have always used tools to extend their capabilities. Writing expanded our memory, calculators simplified complex calculations, and the Internet made enormous amounts of information immediately accessible. Artificial intelligence introduces something new: it does not simply store or retrieve information; it can process it, organize it and produce answers.
This can lead us to delegate not only memory, but also parts of our reasoning, writing, creativity and problem-solving abilities. Delegating certain tasks can be useful, but it becomes important to decide which abilities we still want to exercise ourselves.
Perhaps the deepest risk is not that machines will become more intelligent than humans, but that humans may gradually become accustomed to not exercising certain abilities because a machine can do it for them.
The same applies to creativity. AI can help us develop ideas and explore new possibilities, but there is a difference between creating with a tool and allowing the tool to create instead of us. For a child, an imperfect drawing made independently can have enormous educational value: through that imperfection, the child experiments, learns and expresses themselves.
Artificial intelligence therefore also forces us to reflect on what it means to be intelligent. Human intelligence is not simply the ability to solve problems. It also includes experience, emotions, relationships, values, desires, responsibility and the ability to give meaning to our experiences.
The challenge, therefore, should not be to prevent children, teenagers or adults from using AI, but to learn how to use it without delegating our own growth.
Growing also means making mistakes, waiting, searching, questioning, trying and trying again. It means gradually developing an awareness of what we are capable of.
Technology can accompany us on this journey, but it should not replace it.
The real challenge of the future will be learning to live in a world where machines can think with us, without forgetting to think for ourselves.
Author: Ms Enza Procopio – JUMP Staff (Italy)