Understanding and Supporting Thinking and Learning With Generative Artificial Intelligence

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is ubiquitous, appearing as large language model chatbots that people can query directly and collaborate with to produce output, and as authors of products that people are presented with through a variety of information outlets including, but not limited to, social media. AI has considerable promise for helping people develop expertise and for supporting expert performance, with a host of hedges and caveats to be applied in any related advocations. We propose three sets of considerations and concerns that may prove informative for theoretical discussions and applied research on generative AI as a collaborative thought partner. Each of these considerations is informed and inspired by well-worn psychological research on knowledge acquisition. They are (a) a need to understand human perceptions of and responses to AI, (b) the utility of appraising and supporting people’s control of AI, and (c) the importance of careful attention to the quality of AI output.