Using AI Wisely
AI is a tool, not a shortcut. Stay in control.
Using AI Wisely
Protect Your Learning
Over-Reliance on AI Can Harm Your Skills
University is about developing skills like critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving. If you rely too much on AI, you lose the chance to develop these skills for yourself.
Whilst future employers may (or may not) expect you to use AI in your work, being unable to use AI tools appropriately (including choosing when not to use them) may result in serious consequences for your career, your prospects, and for others.
Some of the risks
Letting AI Do the Thinking
If you always turn to AI to think for you, you won’t develop problem solving skills, harming your future prospects. Developing these skills now will help you for life.
Not Checking Your Understanding
Relying on AI means you stop asking, “Do I really get this?”. True learning happens when you challenge and test your understanding.
Losing Your Critical Edge
AI can summarise information, but it won’t teach you the reasoning skills needed to interpret and evaluate ideas for yourself.
Staying Employable
Employers value graduates who can effectively harness AI while maintaining control, identifying mistakes, thinking critically, and making informed decisions.
AI isn’t always right
Why You Can’t Trust AI Completely
Generative AI sounds confident, but it doesn’t think like a human. It predicts patterns in data, which means:
- AI can make mistakes and create fake references.
- AI reflects biases in its training data, which can lead to stereotypes.
- AI lacks real-world judgment, its answers can sound right but be wrong.
- AI is designed to "understand" you and provide you with an answer even if your prompt does not make sense.
If you include errors or bias from AI in your work, you are responsible for them.
Stay in control
Make AI Work for You, Not Against You
- Use AI to spark ideas, not replace your thinking.
- Rewrite AI outputs in your own words and add your perspective.
- Verify facts, don’t assume AI is correct.
- Limit AI use for summaries, do the hard reading yourself.
Want better results when you use AI? Learn how to write effective prompts on our "Prompting Tips page":
