It started with one assignment. The essay was due, the blank page was terrifying, and ChatGPT was right there. The result was good — better than good. So the next assignment went through AI too. And the next. Now it's every assignment, and the student genuinely doesn't know if they can write a paragraph alone.
The dependency cycle
Step one: use AI because the task is hard. Step two: get a good result. Step three: skip the learning that would have happened. Step four: the next task feels even harder because you didn't learn from the last one. Step five: use AI again. The cycle feeds itself.
The knowledge gap
The grades look fine. That's what makes this invisible. A student producing A-level work with AI may have C-level understanding. This gap doesn't show up until exams, interviews, or real-world situations where AI isn't available. By then, the gap can be enormous.
For students reading this
If you can't do your homework without AI, that's information. Not a judgment — information. The discomfort of struggling with a blank page is where learning happens. AI took away the discomfort, but it also took away the learning. Try one assignment without it. See what happens.