The habit of “letting AI do everything” makes young people dependent on technology and gradually lose their skills, so it is necessary to teach them how to use it correctly, according to experts from Aptech India.
At a seminar on the development and application of artificial intelligence in Vietnam organized by Aptech International Programmer Training System on the morning of November 29, Dr. Rakhee Das, AI expert from Amity University (India) assessed that the explosive development of AI such as ChatGPT brings two big problems to many countries. The first is that many countries try to build their own versions of ChatGPT while resources cannot meet it, and the second is that users are too dependent on AI.
For example, she said, many students completed their homework well, but could not directly answer simple questions, and were later found to have asked AI to help them do their homework. “Many young students gradually lose their real skills. Their thinking weakens because AI does all the work,” she said, calling this a state of brainlessness (AI brainlessness), which has appeared a lot since the explosion of generative applications.
Dr. Rakhee Das shared at the conference via online format. Screenshot
According to her, thanks to easy access, many students are using AI to cope with learning instead of learning the foundation, causing critical thinking to decrease, basic knowledge to weaken, and even problem-solving skills to disappear. “If this continues, the future workforce will no longer be able to think, only know how to copy and paste,” she said.
Warnings about the risk of brain degeneration due to AI are not new. In June, a four-month study by a team of experts from MIT Media Lab also discovered that AI chatbot users had reduced brain activity and memory.
Among them, the group using AI chatbots had the lowest level of brain interaction and “always performed poorly in language and behavior”. After four months, they became lazier with each essay, often eventually resorting to copying and pasting.
Mr. Chu Tuan Anh, Director of Aptech in Vietnam, acknowledged that this situation happens a lot in the technology age. For example, drivers who are used to using map applications cannot remember familiar routes; Programmers who abuse AI cannot write a few lines of basic search commands themselves.
“It is no longer a discrete phenomenon but has become an alarming trend when users experience cognitive decline due to AI,” Mr. Tuan Anh said.
Mr. Chu Tuan Anh shared at the conference. Image: Luu Quy
Affirming that “it is impossible not to use”, but according to Mr. Tuan Anh, if not controlled, the situation of “brainless AI” will have far-reaching consequences. Many people may lose confidence and have an “identity crisis” when they don’t know what to do besides typing prompts (commands) for AI, which can lead to psychological health effects and job loss.
At a broader level, the consequence could be a shrinking workforce and falling productivity. “If we don’t have the right direction, in about 3-5 years, we will have a generation that knows how to use AI but doesn’t know what to do, losing its competitive advantage compared to countries that still retain their original thinking,” he said.
To prevent it, he proposed the 3T solution (Think first – Tool, not Tutor – Teach back), which means finding the solution yourself before using AI, only considering AI as a tool instead of a teacher, explaining it verbally or teaching it to others. This method helps awaken thinking and memory abilities, allowing the brain to exercise.
According to Ms. Rakhee Das, Vietnam has a “golden opportunity” in the field of AI when the Government accelerates the national strategy on artificial intelligence, large enterprises expand AI centers, and digital transformation spreads strongly in all industries.
Emphasizing that today’s Vietnamese youth are the driving force of the future, she recommended that they use AI responsibly. “They can learn to understand AI, thereby using or developing AI in a transparent and trustworthy way,” she recommended.
Some AI applications created on phones are Copilot, DeepSeek, Gemini, AI Hay, ChatGPT, Grok. Image: Luu Quy
The digital economy report released by Google this week shows that Vietnam leads Southeast Asia in terms of application level and user trust in AI. 81% of Vietnamese people surveyed interact with AI every day. Their motivation for using AI is mainly to save time searching and comparing information, receive 24/7 customer support, and save costs. The survey also found that 42% are concerned about privacy and data security related to AI agents, while 96% are “willing to share data access” with these agents.