How Much is Too Much? - Learning With GenAI - How Much is Too Much? - Research Guides at University of Saskatchewan

Recognizing the Tipping Point

At the end of this section, you should be able to recognize when GenAI use helps and when it hinders your learning.

How much offloading is too much?

We all offload, whether it's jotting down reminders, using calendar apps, or Googling new concepts. These traditional forms of cognitive offloading ease mental stress and make tasks feel more manageable.

But GenAI is different. It can take on so much of the mental work that you don’t have to think at all. That’s when offloading turns into cognitive disengagement - relying so heavily on external tools that you lose opportunities to focus, practice key skills, and apply knowledge independently.

Recognizing the Tipping Point

While GenAI can produce fluent and convincing answers, it is not inherently designed to facilitate learning. Unless intentionally prompted, it cannot determine if you're encountering difficulties or thinking critically.

Think of using GenAI as a scale. At first, it helps distribute the weight by saving time and clarifying complex ideas, making learning feel more manageable. But as more weight shifts to the tool, the scale begins to tip. When GenAI starts doing the thinking for you, the balance moves from active engagement to passive consumption. That tipping point is where deep learning fades and disengagement begins.

Why GenAI Can Undermine Learning

GenAI is incredibly convenient, but using it without a clear purpose or thoughtful engagement, can interfere with deep and meaningful learning. Here's why:

GenAI encourages offloading by design

When a student asks a question, the AI gives an immediate, polished response. This convenience makes it tempting to skip the thinking process entirely. Why wrestle with a problem when a fast answer is available?

It reinforces passive learning habits

Rather than testing ideas, learning from mistakes, or reflecting on key concepts, students might rely on AI's responses without taking the time to understand or verify the information, effectively bypassing the learning process altogether.

It doesn’t know what you don’t know

Unlike a teacher or peer, AI lacks awareness. It can't detect misconceptions, scaffold your thinking, or guide you through confusion, unless you deliberately prompt it to do so. Without intentional use, AI won’t challenge your assumptions or help you reflect on your learning (metacognition).

The Hidden Costs of Mindless AI Use:

As the line between using GenAI and relying on it too heavily begins to blur, it’s easy to slip from active engagement into passive dependence without noticing. Staying aware of that shift helps you stay in control of your learning.

Here’s what it can look like:

Outsourcing thinking to the tool → leads to cognitive disengagement
Skipping reflection and connection → results in shallower processing
Passive consumption of information → weakens memory and retention
Over-reliance on AI → undermines confidence in your own abilities

How GenAI Reshapes Common Learning Tasks

Here are some examples of how common learning tasks change when GenAI is used for offloading:

Task	Traditional Offloading	GenAI Offloading
Summarizing a reading	Writing notes or summaries by hand deepens comprehension and memory through active engagement.	GenAI summaries skips active processing and can weaken understanding.
Brainstorming ideas	Drawing mind maps or lists encourages idea generation and structure.	GenAI ideas may limit exploration or original thinking and lead to overreliance.
Writing a first draft	Outlining and drafting help develop argument logic, fluency and ownership of ideas.	AI-generated drafts bypass the writing process, reducing reflection, fluency, and sense of authorship.
Problem Solving	Working through examples strengthens reasoning, persistence, and conceptual understanding.	GenAI answers can appear correct but may contain errors or flawed logic, and limits “learning by doing.”
Studying for a test	Creating flashcards or self-quizzing reinforces recall and metacognitive awareness.	Relying on AI-generated explanations may save time but reduces retrieval practice and memory formation.
Paraphrasing information	Rewriting in your own words demonstrates comprehension and builds language fluency.	Using GenAI to paraphrase can mask misunderstanding and limit the development of your own writing and academic voice.

⚠️ Academic Integrity Note

While this table focuses on how GenAI impacts learning, it’s also important to remember that using AI tools without permission or entering copyrighted or unpublished materials into GenAI platforms can violate academic integrity or copyright policies. Always check with your instructor or supervisor and consult the university’s AI guidelines before offloading coursework to GenAI.

The Key Takeway

GenAI can support your learning, but only if you stay actively engaged. Used carelessly, it can lead to over-dependence, reduced confidence, and poorer learning outcomes.

As Ramon asks in the video: “Am I learning anything?”

That's the question we all should ask when using GenAI to complete academic work.

Interactive Check-in

Use these descriptions to complete the check-in activity below:

Active Learning
You are mentally engaged, analyzing, questioning, or creating to build understanding. AI, if used, supports your thinking, it doesn’t replace it.
~ Learning is meaningful ~

Passive Consumption
You accept AI-generated information without evaluating or reflecting. AI is doing the work for you, which limits understanding and retention.
~ Learning is incidental ~

Overreliance on AI
You depend on AI so heavily that it replaces effort and practice, putting your learning and skill development at risk. It may seem helpful now, but is detrimental over time.
~ Learning is negligible ~

Test Your Understanding

Reflect on whether the strategies below demonstrate Active Learning, Passive Consumption, or Overreliance on AI. Choose the option that best describes how each use of GenAI affects engagement, understanding, and skill development.

Keep in mind that if GenAI use is not permitted in a particular context, the scenario also raises academic integrity concerns, not just learning concerns.