VOX POPULI: Gen AI always has answers, but it’s no match for critical thinking - 朝日新聞

Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a daily column that runs on Page 1 of The Asahi Shimbun.

July 13, 2026 at 12:34 JST

A smartphone screen displaying a variety of generative AI apps (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

How far should we go in using generative artificial intelligence, and in what ways?

For educators, the question has become an urgent one. But first, a more basic question: how much are students already using it?

A paper published this May in the journal Science analyzed survey responses from more than 95,000 students at 20 public research universities in the United States. The responses, collected during the 2023–24 academic year, showed that 37 percent used generative AI at least once a month.

In Japan, Tokyo University of Technology announced this spring that more than 90 percent of its first-year students regularly use generative AI.

Last year, a study by researchers at the MIT Media Lab titled “Your Brain on ChatGPT” attracted widespread attention.

Fifty-four participants were divided into three groups and asked to write essays: one using generative AI, one using a search engine, and one relying solely on their own minds.

Those who wrote with AI showed weaker memory traces, diminished self-monitoring and a more fragmented sense of authorship. Eighty-three percent had difficulty quoting from their own essays even moments after finishing them.

Their arguments and perspectives also tended toward a striking uniformity.

It seems that because the writing never fully became their own, its substance failed to take root in their minds.

“Brain-only group, though under greater cognitive load, demonstrated deeper learning outcomes and stronger identity with their output,” the researchers wrote.

There is no shortcut to acquiring thought and knowledge that truly become part of us. We know that perfectly well. And yet, when such a powerful and convenient tool is close at hand, it is only human to reach for it.

Nor is this a problem confined to students. Many people wrestle with how far they should rely on generative AI in their own work. This writer is one of them.

As I turned all this over in my mind, a thought occurred to me. Ask AI almost anything, and it will produce answer after answer.

But it will not tell me what I should ask.

What should I doubt? What question should I frame?

Perhaps it is precisely there that human creativity still resides—and there, too, that the fascination of being human lies.

—The Asahi Shimbun, July 12

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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