An Open Letter to My Students about AI

What an exciting time to be young and on the cusp of adulthood. You have been born into a world full of opportunities and challenges. Over the past year and a half, I have been delving deeply into all things AI. I am both concerned and optimistic about your future. My greatest hope is that you will thrive and flourish in the world that lies before you. 

The Fourth Industrial Revolution?

Over the past few hundred years, historians have identified three industrial revolutions:

• 1st Industrial Revolution: (1700s-1800s) The replacement of manual labor with the power of steam engines. Factories were built in cities, and the assembly line was invented.
• 2nd Industrial Revolution: (Late 1800s - Early 1900s) The widespread use of electricity was the key feature of this era. Electricity enabled scaled manufacturing and introduced communication technologies, such as the telephone. 
• 3rd Industrial Revolution: (Mid 1900s to Early 2000s) The invention of the computer and the internet.

Each of these “revolutions” dramatically changed the world. Though each revolution brought many positive changes, each also caused significant human suffering. 

Many believe we are currently in the fourth industrial revolution, with AI and biotechnology serving as the primary drivers. This era is happening more rapidly than previous revolutions and has already disrupted many lives. 

Andrew Ng, the founder of Coursera, a Stanford researcher, and one of the top AI researchers in the world, said the transformation to an AI world is similar to the change of the 2nd Industrial Revolution: from no electricity to electricity. 

You have never known a world without electricity unless you remember the deep freeze of 2021 in Texas or one of the myriad hurricanes that have beset Houston. If you lived through those events, you know how much we rely on electricity. Imagine the world before electricity. That world relied on manual labor, natural light, slow communication, and limited mobility. 

Those living during the advent of the electric age were living during exciting times. Thomas Edison’s electric lights stunned the world. Before electric lights, you either clustered around a fire or had oil lamps. With electric lights, people began to stay up after dark. Electricity revolutionized numerous industries and transformed where people live and even how homes are designed. Fast forward to Willis Carrier’s invention of the air conditioner. The world changed, especially for those of us in warmer climates. Houston’s hot, humid climate made it unappealing. When air conditioning became available, the population of Houston (and other cities in the South) increased significantly. Electricity so utterly transformed the world you probably take for granted. It is the most versatile form of energy ever invented. It heats your home, drives your car, runs your computer, cools your food, and powers all the devices you own. 

Being a young person during the dawn of electricity must have been an exciting time. The world was transforming before their eyes. Opportunities abounded for those who embraced the change and who found new and innovative ways to harness the power of electricity. 

Each Industrial Revolution was marked by rapid change. In each revolution, many people struggled with the change. Factories were often unsafe, and some used child labor. Urbanization created environments where disease could spread rapidly. with every large-scale social/technological revolution, there were winners and losers. The change hurt many people, yet many saw this as a great opportunity to embrace the new change, and they succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. 

The AI era is already changing how you live. Many are embracing it wholeheartedly and see it as the best thing that ever happened in their lives. Many others and I are calling for caution, especially for young people such as yourselves. When Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost took the name Pope Leo XI, his stated reason was his concern that AI would pose challenges comparable to those faced during the First Industrial Revolution. He fears that AI will denigrate our humanity. I share his concerns. 

You are living in a time of significant change. How you prepare yourself for the future will make all the difference.  Although the Second Industrial Revolution occurred quickly, the pace of change was significantly slower than the AI revolution. In light of the crazy times we live in, how can you best prepare yourself for this new era? 

You Are Living in Exciting Times: How to Prepare With Seven Suggestions

• Over-reliance on AI Will Harm You

In a recent study, Michael Girlich concluded that: “The findings revealed a significant negative correlation between frequent AI tool usage and critical thinking abilities, mediated by increased cognitive offloading. Younger participants exhibited higher dependence on AI tools and lower critical thinking scores compared to older participants.” (Girlich, 2025) When students use AI to do some of their thinking, they become poorer thinkers. Overreliance on AI will stupefy you. 

Ted Chiang recently wrote:

“Using ChatGPT to complete assignments is like bringing a forklift into the weight room; you will never improve your cognitive fitness that way.”

I know most of you are using AI for schoolwork. But I caution you. If your goal is to make something of yourself, you must do the hard work of learning. Many of your peers will take the path of least resistance. They will shortchange their learning and will not become the outstanding person they could become. Don’t be that person. 

Instead, be like Moria Gleason, a twenty-year-old college student at Hillsdale College, who wrote this about AI: 

Writing an undergraduate paper isn’t about the actual paper. As an English major, I write to understand what I have read. Using artificial intelligence to write a term paper for my Shakespeare class wouldn’t only be dishonest, it would rob me of my education. The odds of my saying something novel about “To be or not to be” are about zero, and I know academia isn’t hurting for the musings of a 20-year-old student fueled by energy drinks in the library at 2 a.m.

I write not because anyone else needs to read my thoughts, but because I need to write them. Delivering a finished paper takes hours of reading, rereading, outlining, drafting and editing. Even then, as one of my professors said, papers are never really finished, they are only due. Writing may be draining, never perfect, but it’s always rewarding.
Slaving over term papers every semester for three years has made me a more careful reader, insightful thinker and articulate writer. When my professor grades my work, he judges the merit of my thought and engagement with the text. The page must reflect me, then, not the output of a chatbot.

One of the reasons you came to our school was to become a leader. We develop leaders here, and it will take a great deal of willpower to resist the temptation to cut corners. As you know, I love science, and I geek out about how the brain works when learning. So, a quick science lesson: When you learn something new, actual structures in your brain grow and adapt. If you exercise your brain, your brain's “muscles” become more efficient, allowing you to process complex concepts more easily. In many ways, the brain is like a muscle that grows best when stressed. If you lift weights, you know that to develop more muscle, you need to push yourself with either more repetitions or a slightly higher weight than you can handle.  In the educational context, this is often referred to as productive struggle. You learn best when you are struggling - you are at the edge of your cognitive ability, and when you push through the difficulty, that's when you see the most significant gains. 

• You Should Still Use AI 

AI is a powerful tool that can change the world, both positively and negatively. Scott Latham, a business professor at the Manning School of Business, recently wrote on LinkedIn that those students who used AI to do their rough draft and then tweaked the work afterwards showed significant declines in their performance. However, those students who put in their own hard work first and then utilized AI - wow! The quality of their work was outstanding. In other words, you do the work first and then add AI. Don’t let AI do the first draft, and you tweak it. 

Another group of researchers found that when an expert uses AI, it amplifies their work and accelerates the tasks they can accomplish. However, when AI is used by a novice, it's too tempting for the novice to let the AI do the work. And the result is the novice learner doesn’t get the benefit of actually learning. Regardless of what class you are taking at our school, you are likely seeing this material for the first time. I have news for you: you are a novice! AI will almost for sure do better on high school work than you can. But it isn’t about getting the answers right or the paper perfect. The point of school is to develop your cognitive capacity.  You are learning how to learn and self-correct during the process.

There are undoubtedly many great examples of how you will use AI productively and it has the potential to enhance your life and can set you up to thrive in the world to come. I don’t know exactly what that will look like, but I encourage you to carefully consider the consequences, both intended and unintended, that may result from your AI usage as a student. 

• Don’t Believe Everything You See

AI is not perfect. It makes mistakes and it often “hallucinates.” That means it makes stuff up that isn’t real. In New York, a team of lawyers had ChatGPT write a portion of their legal brief, and ChatGPT cited several court cases to support the brief. The problem was that some of the court cases it cited didn't exist. You can read more here. One of the difficulties you will face is that since you are most likely a novice learner you may not be able to know if AI is hallucinating.

You probably already know that it is hard to even believe a video is real anymore because AI can create “deep fake” videos of almost anyone doing or saying anything the creator wants them to say. I believe this will be one of the most significant challenges you will face in this new era. What and whom will you believe in?  You are going to develop your mind such that you can discern what is reliable and what is false. 

• Avoid AI companion Apps 

Apps like Character AI promise friendship and companionship, but they are a poison, and like any poison, they will only hurt you. We have been put on this earth for real relationships. Relationships with flesh and blood humans. Though an AI boyfriend or girlfriend will always be attentive to you, they are not real! Real relationships are messy. 

I have been married for 34 years, and I have news for you - it's hard, yet it is also glorious. My wife and I sometimes fight - that's normal. As you interact with your parents, peers, teachers, and community, you need to learn how to navigate the complexities of real relationships. An “AI Relationship” is a counterfeit of the real thing. It may satisfy you in the short term, but you will miss the real thing - which requires work.  Don’t settle for the fake. It will stunt your relationships and make you lonelier.  

• Choose College Majors Carefully

During the age of electricity, many people lost their jobs. AI will replace many careers. I encourage you to carefully read about what professions will disappear or diminish in the years to come. I don’t have any specific majors in mind, but you should conduct thorough research on this before spending four years preparing for a job that may no longer exist. 

• Lean into learning 

I believe the best way for you to prepare yourself for this new era is to become a voracious learner. Be curious about everything. Don’t settle for superficial learning. Dive into every class you take with gusto. Ask questions, experiment, and embrace the messiness of the learning process. Because if you are a learner, you will be much more able to adapt and change as the world changes. And read books! Read books of substance. Read old books that have stood the test of time. Read history, science, literature, and think deeply about things. 

• Surround Yourself With Outstanding People.  

People who will push your thinking are invaluable. Motivational speaker Jim Rohn said You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. Find peers who are motivated to succeed. Find peers that lift you. Find peers that will challenge you. 

Also, find mentors. Every good story has a wise old man or woman who guides the young hero or heroine on their quest. It's awesome to be young and full of life, but you need a mentor who will help you grow into the person you aspire to be. Find a teacher or counselor or pastor or parent who can help you navigate all the challenges you are facing. There is nothing better than someone who is further down the path of life than you to help guide your way. 

I don’t really know how AI will be used in your future. It will be integrated into the fabric of your life in ways that I can’t foresee in the same way that people before electricity couldn’t fathom the idea that power running through a wire could cool their food and power devices they never would have conceived. As you explore how to use AI, remember that however you use it, don’t let it take away any aspect of your humanity. You are built for relationships with real people. You were built to think and act of your own free will. Don’t waste your life on frivolous things and ideas. Become a man or woman of substance.

Each of us has one shot at this life. I want each of you to leave our school ready for the uncertain, changing, and challenging world you will enter. I want you to utilize the tools at your disposal to their fullest potential, while also maintaining your humanity and dignity. We are counting on you to make the world a better place - for all of us!

Mr. Bergmann