News Summary

• Generative artificial intelligence is now woven into academic life.
• In the UK, 94% of undergraduates use the technology to complete assessed coursework.
• More than half of papers published in 2025 show linguistic traces of large language models.
• This trend has alarmed educators and researchers, who worry that AI models could erode critical thinking and flood the scientific record with low-quality work.
• As a regular user of AI tools and a researcher at the University of Oxford, UK, I think the alarmists are getting it wrong.
• The danger is not AI itself.
• It is treating the machine as a source of finished answers, when its value comes from active engagement.