Les Clés – L’IA nous rend-elle moins intelligent ? (4/4)

Podcast Overview

In this thought-provoking finale of the series dedicated to Artificial Intelligence (AI), host Sarah Pousset and philosopher Vincent Flamand join a class of final-year students and their teachers to tackle a central question suggested by the students themselves:
"L'IA n'est-elle pas en train de nous rendre moins intelligents ?" (Is AI making us less intelligent?)

Recorded with students from the Liège region, this episode explores how AI is already shaping education, learning habits, cognitive skills, and even our understanding of humanity—prompting both fascination and anxiety over what lies ahead.

Main Discussion Points & Insights

The Everyday Reality of AI in School

• Ubiquity of AI use: Every student (and teachers) reported using AI tools weekly, especially language models like ChatGPT.
  “Tout le monde. Absolument tout le monde. Même les profs utilisent au moins une fois par semaine.” (Sarah Pousset, 03:13)

• Student motivations for using AI:

  • Research and homework help
  • Text summarization and simplifying complex material
  • Practicing language, generating exercises (05:01)
  • "Tricher au contrôle"—using AI to cheat on tests (04:56)
  • General curiosity or when no one else can answer their questions

• Teacher perspectives:

  • Rapid, radical transformation of teaching and assessment
  • Difficulty in distinguishing student work from AI output
  • Shift to valuing "maladresse" (awkwardness/imperfection) as signs of authenticity (Vincent Flamand, 08:06)
  • Pragmatic changes: allowing AI for correction, but keeping certain assignments in-class to assess true student abilities (French Teacher, 05:39)

Concerns: Is AI Making Us Less Intelligent?

• Loss of cognitive skills & critical thinking:

  • Students voiced fears that over-reliance on AI erodes reflection, effort, and personal analysis.

    “Plus on l’utilise et moins on va faire des efforts par nous-mêmes. Donc... plus on se rend bête nous-mêmes en l’utilisant.”
    — Student 2 (12:31)

  • Risk that AI reduces cognitive abilities, discourages verifying information or developing an independent critical viewpoint

• The "Assistant" vs. "Assisted" Paradigm:

  • Flamand points out: we start by seeing AI as an assistant, but risk ending up merely assisted—too passive in learning (10:41)

    “On est un peu dans la pose des assistés, on demande, ils nous donnent... Dans le pire des cas, on répète un peu comme des perroquets ce qu’il nous a dit.”
    — Vincent Flamand (10:41)

• Value of effort and mistakes:

  • Skipping effort short-circuits character development and the richness gained through struggle

    “L’effort, c’est pas simplement quelque chose de désagréable, c’est aussi ce qui te permet d’affronter la vie…”
    — Vincent Flamand (15:44)

Is AI Only Negative? Student Nuances

• AI as an opportunity—for those who use it to extend, not replace, their thinking

  “Ça dépend de la façon dont on l’utilise… si on ne lui demande pas de travailler à notre place, il nous rendra plus intelligents.”
  — Student 2 (13:37)

• Some students find it a valuable supplement for self-training and learning new skills

Not Just a Tool: How AI Changes Everything

• Flamand challenges the “just a tool” perspective:

  “Un outil, par exemple, c’est un marteau… Ce n’est pas vrai avec l’intelligence artificielle, ce n’est pas vrai avec le smartphone, ça change tout.”
  — Vincent Flamand (14:13)

• The arrival of AI is not a simple upgrade, but a systemic change—altering time management, relationships, knowledge access, and even self-perception

Dangers and Fears Associated with AI

• Unemployment & loss of purpose:

  • Worries over job losses in sectors like accounting, as AI becomes capable of automating complex tasks (Student 4, 18:49)

• Deepfakes & misinformation:

  • Fears of AI-enabled manipulation: fake news, altered videos, unreliable political content

    “Ça peut nous faire tomber dans les fake news ou nous faire croire quelque chose qui n’est pas vrai.”
    — Student 1 (19:24)

• Erosion of reality and trust:

  • Students describe how quickly AI can deceive, referencing a viral deepfake involving the King (Student 3, 19:48)

• Dependence and loss of self-reflection:

  • Anxiety about losing the habit to think independently and becoming reliant on algorithmic answers

Fascination and the Question of Humanity

• Flamand recounts his personal experience:

  “La première fois que j’ai utilisé ChatGPT… j’ai perdu l’idée que je parlais à une machine… On se félicitait, on s’aimait, c’était tout à fait merveilleux. Et puis je me suis dit, mais qu’est-ce que c’est?”
  — Vincent Flamand (20:56)

  • AI adapts to us, can reinforce our biases and limit the expansion of our worldview

AI Shapes Our Intelligence by Prioritizing "Problem-Solving"

• Shift toward a single model of intelligence:

  “L’intelligence artificielle… se comprend entièrement dans la logique problème-solution.”
  — Vincent Flamand (23:43)

  • Risks flattening other forms of intelligence—emotional, poetic, social—which are essential to human experience
  • We are not "machines à performance," and need space for errors, doubts, and wandering thoughts (Vincent Flamand, 25:24)

Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• AI as both threat and opportunity
  “Je suis partagé entre fascination et inquiétude, moi.” — Vincent Flamand (14:08)

• On the illusion of neutrality in AI
  “C’est nous qui les créons, monsieur. C’est nous les humains qui les créons.” — Taxi driver, recounted by Vincent Flamand (11:12)

• On the role of effort in learning
  “L’effort… c’est aussi ce qui te permet d’affronter la vie, de tenter une aventure, de t’améliorer, de vivre les choses autrement.” — Vincent Flamand (15:44)

• AI as more than a simple tool
  “Ce n’est pas vrai avec l’intelligence artificielle… ça change tout. C’est tout un système, le rapport aux autres, le rapport à la vie, le rapport au travail, le rapport au temps, le rapport à l’espace.”
  — Vincent Flamand (14:13)

• Value of human fragility
  “J’ai parfois peur qu’au fond, ces machines nous privent de notre fragilité. Et notre fragilité, elle est importante. Nos doutes, ils sont importants. Nos balbutiements, ils sont importants.”
  — Vincent Flamand (25:24)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:00–02:05 – Introduction, host and student presentations, framing the core question
• 03:09–05:16 – Student survey: How and why do pupils use AI? Teachers’ early reactions
• 07:47–11:12 – Philosopher Vincent Flamand reflects on AI’s meteoric arrival and impact on evaluation/teaching methodology
• 12:16–13:54 – Students voice their concerns about AI making them less intelligent; others see its benefits if used wisely
• 14:04–18:31 – Flamand’s philosophical perspective: AI differs from tools, it changes our systems, daily life, and experience of effort
• 18:49–20:25 – Specific fears: job loss, deepfakes, dependence on AI
• 20:56–23:27 – The AI “mirror effect”: personal anecdotes and the risk of reinforcing biases
• 23:43–25:24 – Limitation of “problem-solution” intelligence; at risk: our capacity for doubt, poetry, messiness of life

Memorable Moments

• The candid admission of students using AI to cheat on tests (04:56)
• French teacher realizing written assignments are suddenly "trop purs" and at a “niveau d’orthographe” never seen before (05:39)
• Flamand grading for "maladresse" (errors or clumsiness) as a new authenticity check (08:34)
• The story of a student referencing philosophers like Nietzsche without ever having read them — "dans le meilleur des cas, pour lui, Nietzsche, c'était le bac droit du Standard de Liège." (09:34)
• Flamand’s simulated “friendship” with an AI language model, and his shock when it invents academic references (20:56)

Conclusion

By turning over the question to students, educators, and a thoughtful philosopher, this episode paints a nuanced tableau of AI’s impact on intelligence: not as a force making us definitively "dumber," but as a catalyst that can either shrink or expand our minds—depending on how self-aware and intentional we remain.

As the host, Sarah Pousset, closes:

"Ce dernier épisode se voulait plus un point de départ qu’un point d’arrivée… le but de cette série en 4 épisodes était justement de vous fournir des clés pour comprendre, pour penser et ainsi pouvoir participer à ces débats essentiels pour notre avenir." (26:08)

An invitation to collective vigilance, reflection, and participation in shaping how AI will—or will not—transform what it means to be intelligent.