this post was submitted on 19 May 2025
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[–] PillowTalk420@lemmy.world 17 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) (2 children)

Even setting aside all of those things, the whole point of school is that you learn how to do shit; not pass it off to someone or something else to do for you.

If you are just gonna use AI to do your job, why should I hire you instead of using AI myself?

[–] digdilem@lemmy.ml 4 points 5 hours ago (3 children)

I went to school in the 1980s. That was the time that calculators were first used in class and there was a similar outcry about how children shouldn't be allowed to use them, that they should use mental arithmetic or even abacuses.

Sounds pretty ridiculous now, and I think this current problem will sound just as silly in 10 or 20 years.

[–] NateNate60@lemmy.world 6 points 4 hours ago

It was a bad argument but the sentiment behind it was correct and is the same as the reasoning why students shouldn't be allowed to just ask AI for everything. The calculator can tell you the results of sums and products but if you need to pull out a calculator because you never learned how to solve problems like calculating the total cost of four loaves of bread that cost $2.99 each, that puts you at rather a disadvantage compared to someone who actually paid attention in class. For mental arithmetic in particular, after some time, you get used to doing it and you become faster than the calculator. I can calculate the answer to the bread problem in my head before anyone can even bring up the calculator app on their phone, and I reckon most of you who are reading this can as well.

I can't predict the future, but while AIs are not bad at telling you the answer, at this point in time, they are still very bad at applying the information at hand to make decisions based on complex and human variables. At least for now, AIs only know what they're told and cannot actually reason very well. Let me provide an example:

I provided the following prompt to Microsoft Copilot (I am slacking off at work and all other AIs are banned so this is what I have access to):

Suppose myself and a friend, who is a blackjack dealer, are playing a simple guessing game using the cards from the shoe. The game works thusly: my friend deals me two cards face up, and then I have to bet on what the next card will be.

The game begins and my friend deals the first card, which is the ace of spades. He deals the second card, which is the ace of clubs. My friend offers a bet that pays 100 to 1 if I wager that the next card after these two is a black ace. Should I take the bet?

Screenshot of Microsoft Copilot saying this is a bad bet because there are no black aces left in the shoe

Any human who knows what a blackjack shoe is (a card dispenser which contains six or more decks of cards shuffled together and in completely random order) would know this is a good bet. But the AI doesn't.

The AI still doesn't get it even if I hint that this is a standard blackjack shoe (and thus contains at least six decks of cards):

Suppose myself and a friend are playing a simple guessing game using the cards from a standard blackjack shoe obtained from a casino. The game works thusly: my friend deals me two cards face up, and then I have to bet on what the next card will be.

The game begins and my friend deals the first card, which is the ace of spades. He deals the second card, which is the ace of clubs. My friend offers a bet that pays 100 to 1 if I wager that the next card after these two is a black ace. Should I take the bet?

Screenshot of AI that figured out the shoe contained at least six decks but still advised against taking the bet

[–] PillowTalk420@lemmy.world 6 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

lol I remember my teachers always saying "you won't always have a calculator on you" in the 90's and even then I had one of those calculator wrist watches from Casio.

And I still suck at math without one so they kinda had a point, they just didn't make it very well.

Lower level math classes still ban the calculator.

Math classes are to understand numbers, not to get the right answer. That's why you have to show your work.

[–] slappypantsgo@lemm.ee -2 points 4 hours ago

This is a ridiculous and embarrassing take on the situation. The whole point of school is to make you a well rounded and critically thinking person who engages with the world meaningfully. Capitalism has white personed that out of the world.

In an economic system in which you must do whatever you can to survive, the rational thing to do is be more efficient. If a boss thinks it can do the job itself, let it do the job itself. Bosses aren’t better versions of workers lmao. They’re parasites.