Audio long read: How to stay smart in the age of AI — the science of critical thinking
Nature Podcast

Audio long read: How to stay smart in the age of AI — the science of critical thinking

B2Upper-intermediateOctober 19, 202616 min
  • Documentary

Critical thinking is a skill that is under threat from the AI revolution in large language models. But all is not lost. Specialists in education and cognition have long been studying critical thinking, and some have useful tips on how to stay cognitively sharp in the age of AI. This is an audio version of our Feature: How to stay smart in the age of AI: the science of critical thinking Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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This is an audio long read from Nature. In this episode, How to Stay Smart in the Age of AI.

, , .

Earlier this year, education researcher Li Xiang Yan realised that students could outsource all of their work for his university course to artificial intelligence.

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This is an audio long read from Nature. In this episode, How to Stay Smart in the Age of AI. The Science of Critical Thinking, written by Helen Pearson and read by me, Benjamin Thompson. Earlier this year, education researcher Li Xiang Yan realised that students could outsource all of their work for his university course to artificial intelligence. Yen, who teaches at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, was using an agentic AI called

0:34

Codex to set up an online course on a learning management platform. But it quickly became clear that the adept AI could independently complete all the assignments, answer questions and participate in discussions. Quote, without the learner being intellectually engaged, end quote, at all, Yen says.

0:55

The experience made Yen think that teaching students to reason and think for themselves quote, is more critical than ever, he says. And he is hardly alone. In a 2025 survey of more than 1,000 US faculty members conducted by the American Association of Colleges and Universities, 90% said they thought that generative

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