Artificial intelligence is changing the way students learn, work, communicate, and solve problems. But as AI becomes more capable, an important question remains: What uniquely human skills do we need to develop alongside it?
A recent article in The 74 explores one answer: human connection. Author Eric Pōmaikaʻi Gee reflects on his experience participating in a global digital exchange program that connected students across countries and cultures. Over the past decade, the program has connected more than 139,000 students and 3,100 educators across 39 countries.
The technology made those connections possible, but the actual learning came from the people on the other side of the screen.
Students had conversations with peers whose lives looked completely different from their own. They listened, asked questions, challenged their assumptions, and adjusted their thinking based on another person’s perspective. As Gee explains, AI can expose us to different viewpoints, but it cannot replace the empathy and accountability that develop through genuine human relationships.
AI Makes Critical Thinking More Important (Not Less)
As educators incorporate AI into learning environments, students need more than the ability to access information. They need to know what to do with that information.
AI can generate an answer in seconds, but that doesn’t automatically make the answer accurate, appropriate, or useful. Students still need to ask:
- Where did this information come from?
- Is it accurate?
- What evidence supports it?
- Are there other perspectives to consider?
- How does this information apply to the situation?
- What is the best decision based on what I know?
This is where critical thinking becomes an essential skill for successful AI implementation.
Critical thinking helps individuals process information, evaluate possibilities, solve problems, and make informed decisions. Conover’s Critical Thinking program develops these abilities through six skill areas: gathering information, analyzing information, applying information, forming a hypothesis, problem solving, and decision making.
Preparing People for an AI-Enabled World
The goal shouldn’t be to teach students to compete with AI. It should be to help them develop the human skills that allow them to use AI thoughtfully and effectively.
Technology can provide information. People have to determine what that information means. Technology can offer possibilities. People have to evaluate them. Technology can generate responses. People still have to make decisions. Relationships, empathy, communication, curiosity, and critical thinking remain essential parts of that process.
As AI continues to evolve, education has an opportunity to focus not only on what technology can do, but on what people need to be able to do with it.
Build Critical Thinking Skills with Conover
Conover’s Critical Thinking program provides a structured, research-based approach to developing the skills people need to gather, analyze, and apply information, solve problems, and make decisions. The program includes a pre-assessment, individualized skill-building, and a post-assessment to document growth, with an instructor-led curriculum also available for group instruction.
Learn how Conover can help your students and participants strengthen their critical thinking skills and prepare for a world where human judgment matters more than ever. Schedule a demo today to Learn More About Conover’s Critical Thinking Program.
