Math scholar: using AI for quick intuition is a self-defeating sugar high

doodlestein · x · 2026-09-09

A math scholar warns that college freshmen now turn straight to AI like Claude or ChatGPT for mathematical understanding and intuition — a sugar high that feels good but defeats deep internalization. There's no good substitute for the struggle, he argues, which students have endured for centuries. He had Mathematica in 2001-2005, but nothing like today's AI. He concludes this generation will skip the struggle and likely be the worse for it long term.

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