AI should support, not kill critical thinking
By Solomon Nartey Tetteh
The Director of Appiah Information Technology Systems, Eric Appiah, has cautioned the education sector not to downplay the importance of artificial intelligence (AI), stressing that the technology must be harnessed to support human creativity and innovation.
Speaking on Business Breakfast on Zed 101.9FM, Mr Appiah revealed that globally, top institutions are taking AI adoption seriously.
He cited the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where staff are required to gain AI knowledge, and the entire curriculum has been restructured to reflect the growing significance of the technology.
“In Ghana, instead of dismissing AI, we should be teaching people its proper use. Education is not about copying and pasting. It is about the ability to think critically, and AI should enhance that process, not diminish it,” Mr Appiah said.
He raised concerns about research findings suggesting that prolonged reliance on AI can reduce cognitive ability.
According to him, while AI can provide practical solutions and simplify tasks, excessive dependence risks weakening the critical thinking skills that education is meant to nurture.
Mr Appiah encouraged educators and students to see AI as a tool for presentations, research and data analysis.
“AI can give you the ideas, but when you stand before people, it is your originality and thinking process that matters,” he emphasised.
Highlighting practical applications, Mr Appiah mentioned tools such as Perplexity AI and ChatPDF, which can help researchers handle large volumes of academic material more efficiently.
“If you have 100 papers to review, instead of spending months, you can upload them into ChatPDF, ask for summaries, find the main findings and connect them to other ideas. This saves time and boosts productivity,” he explained.
However, Mr Appiah warned that such tools should only support, not replace, originality and independent reasoning.
“AI learns from data and identifies patterns, but it is humans who must apply wisdom and creativity. We cannot afford to reject AI, but neither should we let it replace our ability to think,” he noted.
