Using AI for instant answers instead of struggling with problems yourself robs you of the opportunities to learn, think critically, synthesize information, sit with discomfort, and develop determination and problem-solving skills.

0:00AI is stealing from you. And I don't just mean all the copyrighted works and movies and books and art and blog posts and code and every other piece of content that humans have created. They're stealing from you, the person watching this video. And what I'm really talking about is the fact that when you use AI instead of sitting with the problem or doing things manually the old

0:17way, you're losing opportunities. AI is stealing your opportunities to learn, it's stealing your opportunities to think and synthesize information as well as form your own opinions, it's stealing your opportunities to develop determination and sit in discomfort while learning and working. And it's also stealing the development and nurturing of your problem-solving and critical thinking skills. And when you use AI for instant answers, it's robbing you from every opportunity to develop

0:38your brain's ability to do those things. Now, I am going to rant a bit, but I'm also going to back this up with some research because it's not just me that's saying this. There was a 2025 study called Generative AI Without Guardrails Can Harm Learning, Evidence from High School Mathematics. And in that study, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania gave nearly a thousand students access to GPT-4 for math

0:57practice. There were three groups. In one group, students could use no AI at all, and in the other two groups could use AI. But there were two versions of it. There was one version that had no guardrails and basically would just give them the answers if they asked for it. And the second version was a tutor version that wouldn't give people the direct answer. It would kind of guide them to look it

1:15up and solve it on their own. And what they found is that for the students that used AI without the guardrails, their scores initially went up 48% compared to the group with no AI. But then when researchers took that AI away for the exam, the students using AI with no guardrails scored 17% worse than the group that had no AI at all. The moment the AI was taken away, the advantage

1:35went with it. Now, really my core argument here is that every time AI instantly solves a problem for you, when it finds an answer or creates a sum- summary for you, it removes part of the process that helps you grow. And that convenience comes at a cost. You have fewer opportunities to think, fewer opportunities to learn, fewer opportunities to struggle. And the key thing here is that just because some

1:55learning feels good in the moment doesn't mean any of it is actually sticking. And that's not just theory. In the math study that we just talked about, the kids who scored worse and used AI didn't even feel like they'd scored worse. They thought they were learning just fine. So, when you get those instant answers, you feel like you're moving forward, but you're not actually retaining anything, and you didn't actually get to sit with

2:13that information. So, you're not going to be able to recall it yourself in the future. You're essentially creating a situation where you'll be entirely dependent on AI. And that's the other thing to think about, right? Our access to AI is probably the cheapest it's ever going to be, and it's not something that everyone's always going to have access to. So, if you're not practicing those skills now, the