Since ChatGPT’s launch three years ago, we’ve all heard of the warning “those who don’t use AI will become irrelevant in the future workplace.” Yet, among school-aged kids at least, AI so far seems to have done more harm than good. An expanding collection of research has detailed how outsourcing writing and thinking to AI has wreaked havoc on students’ inquisitiveness, open-mindedness, and confidence in reasoning . The challenge, therefore, is to teach the use of AI in a way that turbocharges a person’s brainpower instead of diminishing it.
I tried addressing this challenge last week. To demonstrate the inadequacies of AI to a student who had been using AI to write in class, I asked her to get AI to write on a topic of her choice. I then rewrote AI’s copy in front of her.
Below is one of the AI-written paragraphs I tackled, and my attempt to improve it:
AI
Brains also embody the paradox of strength and fragility. They are capable of astonishing feats, from composing symphonies to solving mathematical puzzles, yet they are vulnerable to fatigue, trauma, and disease. A single chemical imbalance can alter a person’s mood or behavior dramatically, reminding us how delicate the organ truly is. This duality—powerful yet precarious—makes the study of the brain endlessly fascinating.
My rewrite
Even though our brains are protected by our skulls, this doesn’t mean we don’t need to make an effort to protect it. Men who play American Football often risk injuring their brains, since the sport requires people to knock each other hard. By their 30s or 40s, for some of them, their ability to focus becomes so bad that some simply kill themselves. Scientists have compared the injured brains of these athletes to those belonging to normal people. Normal people’s brains look as moist as a triple chocolate fudge cake; an injured footballer’s brain looks as dry and hard as a walnut.
After that lesson, I examined my copy again and came up with this polished version:
Even though our brains are sheltered in our skulls, this layer of protection is far from sufficient. To see this, we need look no further than American football players who have suffered the consequences of concussions – memory loss, depression, even suicide (some parents in the US have been alarmed enough to ban their kids from playing contact sports altogether). While healthy brains have the moist, soft texture of silken tofu, the brains of concussion victims are as dry and hard as walnuts.
Notice how much more appropriate it is to liken the healthy brain to silken tofu than to chocolate fudge cake. I had used the latter, because back when I was in class grasping for an image, the cake one was all I could think of in the heat of the moment. After the lesson, when I had time to reflect, I realized how unsuitable it was. Yes, chocolate fudge cake is moist, but it’s also sticky, a quality the brain doesn’t have. But how did I dream up the silken tofu option? Well, I used Claude. As I struggled to edit the copy I had written in class, stuck with the cake simile but unable to think of a replacement, I turned to AI. It gave me this response:
Here are some analogies that capture the brain’s distinctive texture and consistency:
Tofu or silken tofu – This is probably the closest match. Fresh tofu has that delicate, soft consistency that’s firm enough to hold its shape but yields easily to gentle pressure, much like brain tissue.
A ripe avocado – The creamy, soft flesh that’s neither liquid nor truly solid mirrors the brain’s texture well, especially that slightly oily, moist quality.
Soft custard or panna cotta – These desserts capture the brain’s smooth, gel-like consistency that’s set but still quite soft and yielding.
Fresh mozzarella or burrata – The soft, yielding quality of these cheeses, especially when slightly warm, resembles brain tissue’s pliability.
A barely-set gelatin or aspic – This conveys the brain’s somewhat gelatinous quality while still maintaining structure.
Soft scrambled eggs – When cooked very gently, eggs have a similar creamy, soft texture that holds together but isn’t firm.
There was no doubt in my mind that silken tofu was the most fitting. I adopted the suggestion accordingly.
If you re-read my re-write of my own paragraph, you’ll also notice in addition to the silken tofu upgrade, the sentences flow more logically and naturally. That was done entirely on my own. I still exerted my own effort.
To me, the above exercise shows how AI can be used to enhance the quality of one’s work without eroding one’s mental powers.
Michelle Ng
英國牛津大學畢業，前《蘋果日報》和《眾新聞》專欄作家，現在身在楓葉國，心繫中國大陸和香港。
聯絡方式： michelleng.coach@proton.me
個人網站： https://michellengwritings.com
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