Students no longer ask questions
Tom notices it straight away in his lectures. Students are asking fewer and fewer questions. “They think: I’ll just look it up on ChatGPT later." Sounds practical, but according to Tom, it’s a missed opportunity. “Studying isn’t just about finding answers, it’s about learning to think. If you outsource that part, you miss the core of what learning really is.”
He even sees it in emails. “I regularly receive emails clearly written by AI, full of unnecessary and over-the-top language. Not a big deal in itself, but it does show how dependent we’re becoming.”
Brainrot
Tom calls it brainrot. “Using AI too much isn’t good for your ability to think independently. You can’t blindly trust what comes out of a model like that, because the answers are often only half right. You need to be able to judge what makes sense yourself.”
He compares it to a calculator. “Can you still do 48 times 7 in your head? Many people can’t. AI does something similar to your thinking ability. It makes things easier, but in the long run, it doesn’t make you smarter.”
Studying is more than just getting a degree
According to Tom, studying isn’t about rushing through your courses as fast as possible. “Why pay thousands of euros in tuition fees only to let ChatGPT do all the work? You won’t learn anything that way. Studying is about developing yourself, not just getting a diploma.”
He sees AI as a temptation, much like fast food. “You know it’s not good for you, but it’s easy, especially when your deadline was yesterday. But it makes you dependent. And dependency is the opposite of learning.”
One key point Tom makes is that failure is necessary for learning. “If you use AI to generate perfect answers, you take away the learning process. Students become afraid to make mistakes, while those mistakes are crucial for understanding how things work.”
Studying with ChatGPT: how to use AI the smart way
Of course, there are clever ways to use AI. Tom mentions a student who used ChatGPT to practise for an exam. He asked the tool to quiz him on the material, from easy to difficult, to test his understanding. A great idea, says Tom - if it were reliable. “You can never be completely sure the answers are correct,” he warns. “Stay critical. If you use AI like this, check every answer against your study material. In the end, you’re the one who has to understand it, not the chatbot.”
And after your studies?
For later in your career, Tom does see a place for AI. “As a professional, you can use AI tools to work smarter, but only if you’ve already mastered the basics. You first need to learn how to write, reason and solve problems. Only then can you use AI responsibly.”
Don’t be an NPC
In one of his lectures, Tom uses the term NPC (non-playable character). “Do you want to be someone who just follows instructions, or someone who thinks for themselves? That’s the choice students face today. Or, as I say in my presentation: "Do you want to be an NPC, or do you want to be the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time)?”
It all comes down to staying critical, even when AI seems smart. “ChatGPT only predicts what’s likely to come next in your sentence. It doesn’t understand, it doesn’t feel. You do. That’s the difference between a computer and a human being.”
If you really want to learn, Tom says, you need to stay in control. Because studying in 2025 isn’t about learning how to use ChatGPT, but learning when not to.
Stay in control
AI can help you grow, but only if you’re the one in charge. Use it as a tool, not as a replacement for your own thinking.
Tom: “Using AI can be tempting, but it can quickly take over your own thought process. In the end, it’s not the chatbot that needs to graduate, it’s you.”
