Josh Blackburn, CEO of TLC LIVE, explores the topic of using AI in education and highlights why guiding children to think critically remains essential.
Josh Blackburn is CEO of TLC Live – a platform for online tutoring services that are delivered by qualified teachers – so has seen first hand the effect that artificial intelligence (AI) is having on today’s younger generation. With students turning to AI tools more frequently, the need for guidance on how to use them appropriately has never been more pressing.
Research from MIT last year revealed that AI can reduce critical thinking in adults. If that’s true for adults with mature reasoning skills, how might it shape the developing minds of children and teenagers who will grow up with AI as the norm? While concern is real, it doesn’t mean AI should be banned from classrooms. What it does show is how important it is to teach pupils how to use these tools responsibly and thoughtfully.
Josh believes that AI should support learning, not shortcut it. Used well, it can deepen understanding, spark creativity, and help pupils see new perspectives. But technology must never replace the process of thinking critically. Children need to develop their own reasoning skills and we shouldn’t allow them to lean solely on AI for ‘easy answers’, especially as we know these LLMs can create false narratives.
AI is most powerful when it acts as a supplement to great teaching. A well phrased prompt can help a student explore new angles for an essay or find additional resources to build their knowledge. It can also fuel curiosity by encouraging questions like: “What else could this mean?” or “How might I approach this differently?”. Yet, every AI generated answer needs to be scrutinised, not accepted at face value and certainly not copy and pasted by students.
The habit of healthy scepticism is essential in a world where AI is increasingly everywhere. Even Google’s CEO has warned against blindly trusting AI, serving as a reminder of why teaching digital literacy is vital. Pupils need explicit teaching on how to use AI creatively and purposefully without relying on it. We know AI is rife with bias (and that it can reinforce and worsen our own biases), so parents and schools need to ensure children have the skills to check sources, recognise any bias or misinformation, and spot when hallucinated information appears. These lessons will help children think independently, even when the technology is doing much of the legwork.
Parents also play a key role, you should encourage your child to explore AI tools but balance that with traditional learning methods such as reading books, doing practice questions, creative writing, or working with tutors. Curiosity is good, but critical curiosity is much better.
While AI platforms may seem more trustworthy than social media, they can still deliver inaccurate or unrealistic information. Parents should monitor screen time and make sure their child has plenty of offline, social, and creative activities to keep that balance.
Subjects with fixed answers – such as maths and science – present a particular challenge. While AI can recall formulas, pupils still need to understand them. In English, AI might suggest structures for essays, but students must form and defend their own arguments. Critical thinking and memory are core skills, and creativity is a muscle that only strengthens through practice.
With the right balance, AI can make learning empowering and inclusive. But the real magic still lies in the moments between pupil and teacher – in mistakes, questions, and those light bulb flashes of understanding. Our collective responsibility as educators and parents is to make sure, we use AI to unlock children’s potential, not limit it.
