A student of the college uploads half of their assignment at 11:45 pm in Bengaluru. In seconds, polished paragraphs, references and a conclusion, that appears to be impressively academic, will fill the screen. He changes a couple of lines, posts it before midnight and gets good marks a week later. However, one question which wasn't asked enough is: Did he learn anything?
A quiet revolution is taking place from classroom to coaching centres to universities. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not just altering the way pupils learn, it's starting to alter if they think deeply at all. In some of the colleges in India, teachers admit that it is common for students to submit AI-generated assignments, especially for management and humanities courses where reflective papers can be written within a few minutes. A few schools in Bengaluru and Delhi have already begun to rethink their methods of evaluating by using classroom presentations, handwritten feedback, and verbal feedback instead of relying on AI-created assignments.
The discussion on education in India is still largely stuck in the issues of infrastructure, employment and digital access. But the more serious problem could be mental: the shifting of the mental load itself. The humor is all too apt. The dream of the policymakers in India is finally coming true: Digital access for all. The inexpensive price of phones, low cost data and websites has revolutionised the dissemination of information more effectively than any piece of education reform in history. It is not a case of the right to information equating with education. It's no longer a matter of getting information; it's a matter of gaining attention, reflection and analytical endurance.
This is important as education was never intended to be about producing answers. It was supposed to be a development of judgment. Lately, worldwide statistics reveal the swift pace at which AI has become a part of the student experience. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has found that in 2025, almost 74% of students ages 16 and older in OECD countries said they used generative AI tools. The academic environment and one of the world's youngest populations makes India likely to undergo an even more rapid behavioural change.
The appeal simply cannot be denied. Students can even use AI to summarise chapters, write essays, solve coding problems, create presentations and even come up with research ideas within seconds. The educational system is dominated by deadlines, exams, and performance pressure, and AI provides burnt out students with what it has been craving: Speed, efficiency, and a well-finished product. But it is not as easy as that: often it's the opposite that is required when learning. A real learning takes time. It's about confusion, revision, failure, memory building and focused mindfulness. Students who are struggling in a mathematical proof or in a challenging text are spending time in building cognitive resilience. AI eases the great productive struggle. It's here that plagiarism is not the biggest problem.
Rote memorisation is a challenge faced by Indian education for years. But generative AI has the potential to lead to another form of intellectual laziness: The illusion of productivity. Pupils can become more knowledgeable in their ability to make responses rather than analysing and questioning and synthesising independently. Indian education could take a new trajectory of producing answers much quicker than developing understanding. Now the concern is reflected in emerging research. Excessive reliance on generative AI was linked to lower tolerance for long-term problem solving and greater “cognitive offloading” – delegating cognitive tasks to AI.
The effects are already seeing worldwide. Princeton University recently updated its historic unproctored exam structure in response to rising worries about cheating with the aid of AI and the lack of reliability in the assessments. The same argument is cropping up at other colleges and universities all over the world as it becomes more and more difficult to evaluate traditional essays or take-home assignments with authenticity.
The teachers are in a dilemma. Meaningful learning becomes weak if they do not accept the use of AI. But if they are aggressive in policing it, then classrooms may become places that teach surveillance instead of curiosity. India's vulnerability is special due to its size. The country houses more than 260 million school students and more than 43 million students studying in higher education institutions which makes the country's education system one among the largest in the world. However, there are still unevennesses in the achievement of foundational learning outcomes. Many students still have not improved their basic reading comprehension and arithmetic skills, as evidenced by the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER). This setting could allow for unlimited use of AI, potentially exacerbating the disparity between being educated and truly educated.
It is not just a technical challenge, it's a social challenge. AI values the power of the language, confidence, and familiarity with digital platforms. The privileged urban student might adapt more readily, while others may end up being complacent customers of machine-produced information, but without comprehending its boundaries. The new split is not necessarily over access to the internet, but rather on how to critically consider technology's output. That is why a solution to this problem is needed in India that is more than just a ban on Chatgpt in classrooms.
It can't be a race to avoid AI. This is impractical and futile. AI has the potential to revolutionise the experience of students who struggle with languages, learning disabilities, or receive less academic assistance. It can be used wisely to enhance accessibility, make learning personalised and minimise educational inequality. The issue isn't the technology; it's an educational culture that values outcome over experience and engagement. India needs change from Answer-based education towards Thinking-based education. This involves creating new assessments based on oral discussions, classroom debates, reflective writing, fieldwork, cooperative problem-solving and application-based learning which are not easily replicable by AI. It involves teaching pupils to evaluate AI outputs, to check information, understand bias, and to detect inaccuracies. Most importantly, it's about returning value to learning itself and not the learning outcome.
The UNESCO has already stated that the use of generative AI in education may exacerbate inequalities and negatively impact critical learning if educational systems are not able to catch up with the use of the technology in a pedagogically sound manner. India can't afford to turn a blind eye to that warning. The National Education Policy rightly highlights critical thinking, experiential learning and also multidisciplinary education. However, AI has forced this change over rather than making it a goal.
The threat in front of India is not so obvious. This crisis won't come in a flash and be seen as a drop in enrolment or degradation of infrastructure. Marks may be further developed. Homework may be more refined. Productivity potentially can rise. Yet, the capacity that lies beneath this efficiency that is essential to humans – to deep attention, reflection, and independent thinking, may be quietly eroded. No one would want an education system that merely produces results instead of real knowledge for a nation that wants to be a world knowledge power. In a matter of seconds, AI can create essays, summaries, and solutions. However, nothing can match the capacity of a human being to question, interpret, empathise and imagine. The true learning crisis will only manifest years down the road – in work, institutions and society – if India doesn't act now and preserve those capacities in classrooms.
(The views expressed are personal)
This article is authored by Anuradha PS, professor, Christ University, Bengaluru.