KUALA LUMPUR: Students should not abandon the basics of learning in their pursuit of knowledge with the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), says Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
They should not rely entirely on AI, but use it as a new tool to help them improve their critical thinking and enhance the knowledge that they acquire, he added.
“You can rely on AI. But, do not forget the basics. You need to learn, read and think critically to fully benefit from AI.
“Over-reliance on AI can lead to us not reading anymore and finding all answers on Google.
“But the answers on Google are summaries and conclusions.
“What is lacking now is the reading culture. When we read a book, it’s about exploring the whole concept of its ideas, not just taking a fragment of knowledge,” he said to students during a ‘Temu Anwar’ programme at Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) here yesterday.
The Prime Minister told the audience that aside from considering the information or content generated by AI, the context of that output also plays an important role.
While AI-generated content may be accurate, he said it does not necessarily mean that the context of the information is also correct.
“It doesn’t mean that the information is wrong, but sometimes the context isn’t right.
“In anything, including studying the Quran, there’s the text and context, the verses, interpretation and analysis.
“From the start, we are trained in what’s called translation and interpretation,” he said.
Anwar also addressed people’s over-reliance on devices or gadgets, noting that this issue isn’t new but has been recognised since the 1980s with the advent of computers.
He added that the dependence on gadgets cannot replace human values and relationships with parents, family and friends, which are affected by overuse of these devices.
“Thinkers of that time in the field of education had already warned that young people would only rely on gadgets and abandon the culture of reading,” he said.
Also present during the event were Defence Minister Datuk Seri Khaled Nordin, Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir and UPNM vice-chancellor Lt-Jen Datuk Mardzuki Muhammad.
During the event, Zambry said the Higher Education Ministry (MOHE) has decided to implement AI across universities, starting with Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM).
He said this approach is aimed at ensuring students do not fall behind in learning the technology within their studies.
“The question is how we want to foster deep learning because there are two possibilities. When we go into AI, we will go into deep learning.
“But there’s a danger, which is deep fakes. We think something is true, but it actually isn’t. This is a challenge for the education sector, (and we are making) preparations at the MOHE level,” he said.
