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Artificial Intelligence

This guide is a basic overview of Artificial Intellegence through the lens of student research in an academic library.

Why is Critical Thinking Important in the Age of AI?

 
“The art of thinking about thinking in an intellectually disciplined manner.” (University of Nebraska-Lincoln)
  • Groundbreaking BBC research shows issues with over half the answers from Artificial Intelligence (AI) assistants (BBC, Feb 2025) (Full Report)
  • No algorithm can replace human wisdom and analysis. But no algorithm will need to if we have abandoned — wholesale — a millennium of critical reading and thinking skills. (Joan Westenberg)
  • Higher confidence in GenAI is associated with less critical thinking, while higher self-confidence is associated with more critical thinking. (Lee, Hao-Ping, et.all, 2025)

"...While GenAI can improve worker efficiency, it can inhibit critical engagement with work and can potentially lead to long-term overreliance on the tool and diminished skill for independent problem-solving. Higher confidence in GenAI’s ability to perform a task is related to less critical thinking effort. When using GenAI tools, the effort invested in critical thinking shifts from information gathering to information verification; from problem-solving to AI response integration; and from task execution to task stewardship."

Critical Thinking Questions for Interrogating AI Responses

  • What is the claim? 
  • What is the evidence to support that claim? 
  • What is the context and relevance? 
  • What is another way to look at this information/issue?
    • How might different people understand this information differently?
  • Who is sharing the information? Where else is it being shared?
  • What is being represented and what is being omitted?
  • Why does it matter?
  • How does this information make me feel and why?

Big Questions to Chew On

  • Why are we scared of AI?
  • How intelligent is AI?
  • Why isn’t AI factual?
  • Is using AI cheating?
  • Should I treat AI like a person?
  • Will AI take over the world?
  • Who owns AI creativity?
  • Is AI worth the effort?
  • How can we stay human in the Age of AI?

Adapted from Crystal Trice

SIFT

Jesuit Writings on AI