Critical Thinking Skills in the face of generative AI; opportunities and challenges.

Emerging technologies are innovations created to assist humans in delivering tasks quickly and effectively, hence, enhancing the industry's productivity. Examples are AI ( chatGPT), 5G network, virtual reality etc. 

According to ZEDNET.com " ChatGPT is a natural language processing chatbot driven by generative AI that allows you to have human-like conversations to complete various tasks such as composing emails, writing essays etc".

 From the above definition of ChatGPT, we discover that this particular AI is of optimum use to the educational institution. Lecturers, teachers, researchers and students find chatGPT helpful in their various activities that involve writing, this is not to say that there is no need for critical thinking skills to be exercised in school but rather to be used to improve or sharpen the critical thinking skills of individuals, such that they become willing to perform some daunting tasks, like research, essay writing, creative writing and so on. Generative AI assists one by building a format or let's call it guidance on the specific task one wants to perform. It saves time as tasks are performed efficiently and effectively with little or no human supervision.

Ethical and responsible use of generative AI like ChatGPT in education will bring about the creation of more powerful learning experiences regarding curriculum development, learning plans, grading, assessment, reporting and many others. 

Thus, if one takes the response given by chatGPT's “hook line and sinker" without critically analyzing, and adding more information to bring meaningful output, the person ends up with haphazard and meaningless work that will neither add value to the individual nor the educational system. This leads to laziness, waste of time and resources, and makes one unable to think critically in the long run.

The abuse of chatGPT by students, researchers, lecturers and so many others reduces the standard of education of a nation and, therefore, must be avoided at all costs.

Inaccurate data from chatGPT can ruin research work and create further confusion in the application of the research result.

 Therefore, we must strive to use generative AI positively, we do not have to lose our core skills such as critical thinking, which is of great essence to human survival to emerging technologies instead we use them to sharpen and polish our innate skills. For instance in transportation, the invention of cars has not stopped us from walking a few distances within our strength and covering far and farther distances with cars or even aeroplanes, so it is with emerging technologies such as chatGPT.  Sometimes we hear of a new car model let's say Mercedes-Benz etc,  yet it still serves the same basic function of transportation as the older car models. The only difference is the innovation done in some parts of it that makes it better and more desirable. 

Albert Einstein stated,” Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal”. Let us also remember Rudolph Christoph Eucken who said “ Technological progress becomes even more exciting when it enters into the service of the social idea which demands that not only a small elite but humanity at large should profit from it”.