I went to school in the 1980s. That was the time that calculators were first used in class and there was a similar outcry about how children shouldn’t be allowed to use them, that they should use mental arithmetic or even abacuses.
Sounds pretty ridiculous now, and I think this current problem will sound just as silly in 10 or 20 years.
I see your point, but calculators(good ones, at least) are accurate 100% of the time. AI can hallucinate, and in a medical settings it is crucial that it doesn’t. I use AI for some insignificant tasks but I would not want it to replace my doctor’s learning.
Also, calculators are used to help kids work faster, not to do their work for them. Classroom calculators(the ones my schools had, at least) didn’t solve algebraic equations, they just added, subtracted, multiplied, divided, exponentiated, rooted, etc. Those are all things that can be done manually but are rudimentary and slow.
I get your point but AI and calculators are not quite the same.
It was a bad argument but the sentiment behind it was correct and is the same as the reasoning why students shouldn’t be allowed to just ask AI for everything. The calculator can tell you the results of sums and products but if you need to pull out a calculator because you never learned how to solve problems like calculating the total cost of four loaves of bread that cost $2.99 each, that puts you at rather a disadvantage compared to someone who actually paid attention in class. For mental arithmetic in particular, after some time, you get used to doing it and you become faster than the calculator. I can calculate the answer to the bread problem in my head before anyone can even bring up the calculator app on their phone, and I reckon most of you who are reading this can as well.
I can’t predict the future, but while AIs are not bad at telling you the answer, at this point in time, they are still very bad at applying the information at hand to make decisions based on complex and human variables. At least for now, AIs only know what they’re told and cannot actually reason very well. Let me provide an example:
I provided the following prompt to Microsoft Copilot (I am slacking off at work and all other AIs are banned so this is what I have access to):
Suppose myself and a friend, who is a blackjack dealer, are playing a simple guessing game using the cards from the shoe. The game works thusly: my friend deals me two cards face up, and then I have to bet on what the next card will be.
The game begins and my friend deals the first card, which is the ace of spades. He deals the second card, which is the ace of clubs. My friend offers a bet that pays 100 to 1 if I wager that the next card after these two is a black ace. Should I take the bet?
Any human who knows what a blackjack shoe is (a card dispenser which contains six or more decks of cards shuffled together and in completely random order) would know this is a good bet. But the AI doesn’t.
The AI still doesn’t get it even if I hint that this is a standard blackjack shoe (and thus contains at least six decks of cards):
Suppose myself and a friend are playing a simple guessing game using the cards from a standard blackjack shoe obtained from a casino. The game works thusly: my friend deals me two cards face up, and then I have to bet on what the next card will be.
The game begins and my friend deals the first card, which is the ace of spades. He deals the second card, which is the ace of clubs. My friend offers a bet that pays 100 to 1 if I wager that the next card after these two is a black ace. Should I take the bet?
lol I remember my teachers always saying “you won’t always have a calculator on you” in the 90’s and even then I had one of those calculator wrist watches from Casio.
And I still suck at math without one so they kinda had a point, they just didn’t make it very well.
I went to school in the 1980s. That was the time that calculators were first used in class and there was a similar outcry about how children shouldn’t be allowed to use them, that they should use mental arithmetic or even abacuses.
Sounds pretty ridiculous now, and I think this current problem will sound just as silly in 10 or 20 years.
I see your point, but calculators(good ones, at least) are accurate 100% of the time. AI can hallucinate, and in a medical settings it is crucial that it doesn’t. I use AI for some insignificant tasks but I would not want it to replace my doctor’s learning.
Also, calculators are used to help kids work faster, not to do their work for them. Classroom calculators(the ones my schools had, at least) didn’t solve algebraic equations, they just added, subtracted, multiplied, divided, exponentiated, rooted, etc. Those are all things that can be done manually but are rudimentary and slow.
I get your point but AI and calculators are not quite the same.
It was a bad argument but the sentiment behind it was correct and is the same as the reasoning why students shouldn’t be allowed to just ask AI for everything. The calculator can tell you the results of sums and products but if you need to pull out a calculator because you never learned how to solve problems like calculating the total cost of four loaves of bread that cost $2.99 each, that puts you at rather a disadvantage compared to someone who actually paid attention in class. For mental arithmetic in particular, after some time, you get used to doing it and you become faster than the calculator. I can calculate the answer to the bread problem in my head before anyone can even bring up the calculator app on their phone, and I reckon most of you who are reading this can as well.
I can’t predict the future, but while AIs are not bad at telling you the answer, at this point in time, they are still very bad at applying the information at hand to make decisions based on complex and human variables. At least for now, AIs only know what they’re told and cannot actually reason very well. Let me provide an example:
I provided the following prompt to Microsoft Copilot (I am slacking off at work and all other AIs are banned so this is what I have access to):
Any human who knows what a blackjack shoe is (a card dispenser which contains six or more decks of cards shuffled together and in completely random order) would know this is a good bet. But the AI doesn’t.
The AI still doesn’t get it even if I hint that this is a standard blackjack shoe (and thus contains at least six decks of cards):
I had to calculate a least squares fit by hand on exam. You have to know what the machines are doing.
lol I remember my teachers always saying “you won’t always have a calculator on you” in the 90’s and even then I had one of those calculator wrist watches from Casio.
And I still suck at math without one so they kinda had a point, they just didn’t make it very well.
Lower level math classes still ban the calculator.
Math classes are to understand numbers, not to get the right answer. That’s why you have to show your work.