AI as a Learning Tool: Tutor, Crutch, or Cognitive Trap?

Anyone who has spent time around students in the last two years has seen the shift. What used to begin with a Google search now often begins with a prompt. A student gets stuck, opens ChatGPT, asks for a summary, an explanation, an outline, a cleaner version of their paragraph, or just the answer in simpler words. That is not a small behavioral change. It is a cognitive one. AI has quietly become part of the learning environment, whether institutions are ready or not. The question now is no lo...