AI and educational responsibility: In praise of effort
Artificial intelligence is now widespread enough to require educational and cultural reflection on its impact. It is therefore no surprise that Pope Leo XIV addressed the subject in his first encyclical, or that researchers around the world have begun examining the effects of AI use on our cognitive abilities.
From the perspective of those of us who work in education, the Pope, in his Magnifica Humanitas , urges us to ensure that tools that expand access to information do not weaken our ability to understand and learn.
A recent article in Nature reviews the research on the subject and notes that physicians and computer engineers who use AI perform significantly worse (compared with when they were not using it) if access to these new tools is taken away.
A preprint by researchers at the MIT Media Lab (which should be interpreted with appropriate caution because it has not yet undergone peer review) found that people who write using a chatbot exhibit lower brain activation and reduced neural engagement. They remember what they have written less effectively than those who do not use AI, and they continue to show lower neural engagement even after returning to writing without the assistance of artificial intelligence. "These results raise concerns about the long-term educational implications of LLM ( the large language models that power chatbots such as ChatGPT ) reliance and underscore the need for deeper inquiry into AI's role in learning," the study's authors write.
The good news is that scientists began investigating the potential harms of AI much earlier than they did with social media. However, the spread of chatbots has been so rapid that, once again, doubts are emerging about whether it will be possible to put any resulting recommendations into practice.
By the middle of 2025, about one in two Italians had used generative AI tools at least occasionally, according to a survey by Euroconsumers and Google , while regular and informed users account for about one in five Italians (19.9%), according to Eurostat . Among people aged 16 to 34, however, that share approaches 40%. AI has become an integral part of our work, education, and everyday lives, including through forms of use that deserve close attention. According to an observatory promoted by Terre des Hommes and the Scomodo community, for example, more than 20% of young Italians would turn to chatbots for psychological support and advice on relationship problems.
Policymakers are also grappling with these issues. On June 10, the Italian government gave preliminary approval to the implementing decrees for the country's AI law, which adopts and puts into effect the framework established by the European AI Act. In education, the government confirmed a model that integrates AI into both teaching and school administration, accompanied by teacher training, the development of students' skills, and safeguards for human oversight and personal data protection.
But the pages that most directly concern those involved in education are the ones Pope Leo XIV dedicates to AI and "educators" in his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas . Although the role of "educators" is primarily assigned to adults (parents and teachers) who contribute to the development of children and adolescents, higher education is also recognized as one of the voices that should participate in public discernment on data, algorithms, access to services, and digital environments.
The encyclical insists on the need for a critical use of AI and calls on universities in particular to address "the principal challenge lies in the integration of knowledge, cultivating both the capacity to connect and synthesize knowledge in order to grasp complexity, and the skills necessary to verify facts."
The fact that every kind of information is more readily available, thanks to digital media and AI, does not mean that it is more easily internalized. On the contrary, according to Leo XIV, this pervasiveness "fosters a culture of immediacy and hyper-stimulation, which gives rise to fatigue, boredom and apathy concerning the effort required for seeking the truth." In more secular educational language, I would also emphasize the effort required to learn.
For information to become knowledge, we need "time for development and for engagement with reality beyond appearances," because education, in Pope Leo’s words, is “a long journey requiring patience.” In the language of the encyclical, we need to "fast" from the AI that creates the illusion of obtaining correct answers in a matter of moments. Read through the lens of management education, the text calls on us to recover the curiosity of those who ask questions and the willingness to earn something through the more demanding, but ultimately more effective, path. It also urges us to provide people with the tools they need to recognize the truth in an environment that is open to manipulation.
As "educators," we may not have enough influence to ensure that patents, algorithms, digital platforms, digital infrastructure, and data become "goods universally intended for everyone," as Leo XIV hopes. But we do have a responsibility to ensure that people understand them. We make these tools available because we are convinced they are destined to become central to every profession. At the same time, we must develop the critical thinking of those who rely on us, highlight the limitations of these tools, and recognize when it is time to stop blindly trusting their answers, embracing instead the effort that is necessary to truly grow, at any age.
