AI and ML
Brown says AI make student brain no work good, teacher should help use it better
Take-home midterm row sharpens fears that the tools are dulling minds and easing cheating
Students and faculty at Brown University are worried generative AI could harm learning after an economics professor's take-home exam produced results he said pointed to widespread misuse of the technology.In a report [PDF] published by Brown's Generative AI in Teaching and Learning (GAITL) committee, teaching staff say they fear AI could weaken students' cognitive skills and encourage cheating.The committee's report comes days after Brown's Roberto Serrano warned that society "cannot choose to become idiots" – comments made after he all but proved his economics class was cheating on their midterms.
Serrano allowed his students to complete their spring midterms outside class, while keeping it closed-book. After the December 2025 shootings at the university, which killed two and injured nine, the professor gave the nod to a home-based exam – the first in his almost 20 years at the university, he told Inside Higher Ed.
