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Webinar Recap: Critical Thinking in the Age of AI

The increasing adoption of AI in academic research has sparked discussions about its impact on our ability to think critically. Are tools like ChatGPT helping or hurting our ability to learn and reason (i.e., to be critical thinkers) or making us over-reliant on automation?  

This is especially relevant for students and early-career researchers who use AI tools for academic writing to reduce workload and save time. But before we go further, take a moment to think about how you work: Is AI making you a stronger critical thinker?

What Is Critical Thinking—and Why It Still Matters

For academics, strong critical thinking skills are essential to grow and succeed, but what does this mean? Psychologist Daniel Willingham defines critical thinking as a reasoning process that is novel, self-directed, and effective. And as Carl Sagan famously noted, “Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge.” 

In a world increasingly shaped by human-AI collaboration in research, these principles remain more important than ever. That’s why Paperpal hosted a webinar on “Critical Thinking in the Age of AI” to explore how students and researchers can continue thinking deeply and independently—while still leveraging AI responsibly.

AI and Critical Thinking: A Four-Stage Approach 

  1. Information Gathering: Strong critical thinking begins with well-grounded information. If you don’t gather enough knowledge, your judgement may be based on incomplete or misleading data. AI tools can help, but only if you ask the right questions. Effective research strategies with AI involves prompt engineering for academics. Vague prompts such as “Tell me about climate change” yield generic outputs, while asking AI to “Summarize 3 peer-reviewed studies on microplastics in marine ecosystems” provides specific, actionable insights.
  1. Evaluating Evidence: The next step is to assess what is relevant and reliable. AI outputs can sound authoritative, but may be outdated or fabricated. Ask yourself: Is this source credible? Is it recent? Does it support my topic? Knowing how to verify AI-generated content is crucial. Responsible AI use in academia requires you to double-check everything, especially citations. Good critical thinkers don’t accept AI responses at face value; they verify data before using it.
  1. Questioning Biases: Critical thinking requires awareness of your own biases and recognizing biases embedded in the tools you use. For example, confirmation bias—seeking data that supports your view—can be amplified by AI agreeing with your assumptions. That’s why it’s important to question both the data present in generative AI outputs and how you interpret it. Critical thinking here involves asking: Am I being objective? Am I ignoring alternative views? Recognizing biases will help you stay fair and open-minded, put the focus on facts, and uphold academic writing ethics in the AI era.
  1. Reasoning Independently: Even after using AI to gather or structure information, you need to connect the dots and interpret results on your own. This is the core of independent reasoning in research. AI can help, but it can’t tell you what’s right—only you can decide what makes sense and why. So, at this step, ask yourself: Does this reflect my perspective? Does this really solve the problem? This kind of reflection keeps your decisions thoughtful, personal, and grounded in real understanding.

Outsourced vs. Assisted Thinking: The Fork in the Road

As AI becomes more integrated into academic workflows, you constantly need to choose between outsourcing your thinking to AI tools (relying on it to generate complete answers or arguments) or using them in an assistive capacity (where AI enhances our reasoning skills without replacing it). While outsourcing to AI may seem faster and more convenient, it risks producing work that is uncritical, context-blind, or factually weak. On the other hand, using AI as an assistive tool to generate ideas, understand perspectives, or suggest sources, ensures you are in control of interpretation, argumentation, and ethical decision-making.  

Let’s compare two researchers studying publishing models: 

  • Researcher A asks ChatGPT: “Write a paragraph on Open Access vs Subscription.” The result is fluent but generic and unverified—sources cited may be fabricated.
  • Researcher B prompts: “List five peer-reviewed pros and cons of Open Access vs Subscription for early-career researchers in biology, with DOIs.” The result is targeted, citeable, and enhances real understanding.

Among these, Researcher B embodies the ideal model of AI and scholarly reasoning. The use of AI here is both responsible and aligned with the values of academic integrity: original thought, evidence-based reasoning, and deep understanding. In short, AI can sharpen your critical thinking skills but should never replace it. 

At Paperpal, we’re building AI tools that align with this vision. From finding references, writing faster, citing accurately, and perfecting your language, Paperpal empowers researchers by enabling them to use AI to think better, not less!  

Developing AI Prompt Literacy: The Academic Superpower

Prompt engineering for academics is not just a technical skill, it’s a new form of academic literacy. A vague query returns generic responses, often unusable without further follow-ups. A specific, well-framed prompt that clearly explain your expectations allows the AI to generate meaningful insights and responses that meets your needs.  

Take the following example:   

❌ “What is quantum entanglement?”   

✅ “Summarize three post-2010 studies on quantum entanglement, with DOIs, covering differing viewpoints.”   

By mastering prompts, you not only control the quality of AI output but ensure it fits into your workflow ethically and effectively. While this is critical to get the best results from tools like ChatGPT, Paperpal doesn’t require you to be a prompt expert. With in-built prompts and contextual questions to streamline the flow, it helps you effectively write and engage with scholarly content. 

A Three-Step Framework for Critical Thinking with AI

For students, researchers and other academics, Paperpal recommends a simple three-step framework to improve your critical thinking with AI. 

Learn: Continue building your own body of knowledge and skills, even if it is seemingly something that a computer could do for you. This foundational understanding will provide you with the skills needed to make meaningful connections and form original ideas that go beyond what even sophisticated generative AI tools like ChatGPT can produce.    

Evaluate: Put the critical in the idea of “critical thinking.” It is well known that generative AI tools can hallucinate, particularly when it comes to the latest research. Whether it’s a news article, YouTube video, newsletter, or corporate strategy document, use healthy skepticism and be sure to seek out additional sources for claims you see, particularly those that seem too good to be true.    

Reflect: After using AI, reflect on the process and results. For example, if you are using AI to help you craft a persuasive message (like a marketing email or LinkedIn post), ask yourself: Did it produce the desired results? Which parts aligned with your thinking and which didn’t? The final, and often missing point, in the key steps to think critically when using AI tools, this reflection makes you a stronger critical thinker when interacting with AI tools. 

Final Thoughts: Use AI, But Stay in the Driver’s Seat

Critical thinking is not simply a checkbox; it is a mindset. And AI and critical thinking need not be mutually exclusive. When used well, AI becomes a thought partner, accelerating workflows, and clarifying ideas. But the actual thinking and then any research writing with AI must still be led by you—humans can bring in original ideas, expertise, and perspectives.  

In the session by Paperpal, we explored how frameworks for critical thinking with AI are essential to academic integrity. Whether you’re a student, researchers, faculty member, or academic professional, honing your critical thinking and knowing how to write with AI responsibly are skills worth mastering. 

Watch the full webinar for more use cases, audience questions, and examples. 
Download the slides to revisit our step-by-step framework. 

Paperpal is a comprehensive AI writing toolkit that helps students and researchers achieve 2x the writing in half the time. It leverages 23+ years of STM experience and insights from millions of research articles to provide in-depth academic writing, language editing, and submission readiness support to help you write better, faster. 

Get accurate academic translations, rewriting support, grammar checks, vocabulary suggestions, and generative AI assistance that delivers human precision at machine speed. Try for free or upgrade to Paperpal Prime starting at US$25 a month to access premium features, including consistency, plagiarism, and 30+ submission readiness checks to help you succeed. 

Experience the future of academic writing – Sign up to Paperpal and start writing for free! 

Stuti Shah

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