Talk to any teacher in Astana and they will tell you that they started to see essays that are weirdly similar. They are tidy, fluent and well-structured but with a sense that something is lacking. Just think about a bright Kazakh student, typing on a keyboard, writing the perfect essay on the history of the steppe in just a few minutes. There are no long nights studying books, struggling with thoughts anymore, but only a prompt to ChatGPT, and an A-paper is written. Sounds efficient, right? But what if this efficiency is also hollowing out the skills which build our nation?
Over-reliance on AI in education is creating a generation of graduates who can produce answers but are starved of original ideas, critical thinking skills, creativity and even our capacity to compete globally or even partake in democracy. When students learn to use AI to assist with the most challenging aspects of education, we will end up with graduates who excel at cranking out instead of generating ideas. It is not an argument against technology; it is a call to leadership.
The temptation is real. Chatbot use in schoolwork is becoming more and more popular. In the U.S., teens who say they have used ChatGPT in schoolwork have doubled in a year from 2023 to 2024 (from 13% to 26%). Some also claim that schools have not provided much guidance and in times when the rules are not clear, convenience prevails. And the convenience of AI is unmatched.
Researchers say that excessive reliance on AI chatbots may decrease critical thinking abilities by 75 percent as students bypass the intellectual exertion required to analyze something independently. Overuse in early education impairs basal development, reducing involvement and emotional development.
Unlike previous generations who sharpened their brains by doing strict research and writing, the young people today face the danger of becoming machine thought consumers, good at outputs, but poor in ideas. In the case of Kazakhstan, which aspires to become a technological hub in Central Asia, this would make us less competitive. How are we going to be innovative when our graduates are only able to think within the prompts?
It must be considered that AI is also beneficial. It may be used to make learning more personal, to support students with special needs, to make lessons available 24/7 and to free teachers from more routine tasks, allowing them to concentrate on mentoring. These tools can be seen as equalizing the playing field in rural schools in Kazakhstan as it seeks to achieve digitalization. Prohibiting it would be a waste of these opportunities. But there is one important point to make: AI is not to replace thinking, but to act as a companion to the learning process. When machines do the heavy lifting of intellectual work, students miss the opportunity to exercise judgment, to grapple with evidence, and to sharpen their own thinking. In the absence of practice, these vital skills dry up.
Kazakhstan needs to take action. Accountability and honesty should be reinforced by having the students report on how and when they make use of AI in their assignments. Teachers are to be motivated to not only judge a final product, but also the process that resulted in it, with notes, drafts, and reflections.
In-classroom tests using physical writing and oral defense ought to be conducted more often, that way, students would show what they know and will not be reliant on underhand help. AI literacy must be introduced as a subject, and students must be taught not merely how to produce text, but how to challenge it, see its weaknesses, and consider its credibility. Meanwhile, schools should also make AI accessible equally to avoid making it a privilege of more financially stable families.
Skeptics can say that students have always been cheating. That is true, but there has never been such a free tool which can create plausible, customized essays on any topic within seconds. The magnitude and delicacy of the challenge we face today is unprecedented, and our response must be equally so. This is not a technological debate. It is about values. Do we want classrooms to be fast and convenient, or to be curious, strong, and original? The response will determine the type of citizens we will raise.
Nevertheless, with a wise application of AI, it can be kept as it should be: a learning aid, but never as an alternative. We should be innovative and not lose the ability to think independently. Let AI assist our students, but never do their learning. The future of education and of the country lies in it.
The author is Zarina Zhumanova, a graduate student of the Nazarbayev University Graduate School of Public Policy.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of The Astana Times.
