AI has not made hard work optional — IIT Kharagpur

KOLKATA — Prof Sudeshna Sarkar from the Computer Science and Engineering Department of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur addressed three common myths about learning in the age of Artificial Intelligence (AI), stressing that technology works best when it strengthens rather than replaces the learning process.

She said, “Technology has been changing very fast, but what has not changed is the effort that you have to spend to learn. You have to keep up with technology and continue to learn.”

On the suggestion that AI provides explanations quickly, Prof. Sarkar pointed out the difference between receiving an explanation and achieving understanding.

“AI can give you instantaneous explanations, and that is convenient. But when students struggle with a problem, trying to solve it, failing, recalibrating, that produces true understanding. They can then internalise it, transfer it to new contexts, and that knowledge becomes much more valuable,” she explained.

She insisted that struggling while learning is not failing.

“Getting stalled is failure. Wrestling with a solution and reaching it teaches much more than shortcuts. Students develop a sense they can transfer to new situations,” she said in an X video shared by IIT Kharagpur.

Prof Sarkar denied that AI has made hard work optional. “AI has reduced the effort but not made hard work optional. What is important today is constructing the ability to understand and apply knowledge to different situations,” she said.

She emphasised the need for higher-order learning skills and critical understanding to go beyond what AI can do and to develop solutions for new problems.

IIT Kharagpur also announced an ongoing project for learners through the National Digital Library of India.

“For every learner, the right guidance at the right moment can make a difference. Yet providing personalised, one-to-one academic support at scale remains a challenge,” the institute said.

It added that, in collaboration with Fermi AI, it is developing a new AI-enabled learning experience to guide, engage and encourage students to think through problems themselves.