# The AI trap: one student's reckoning

> A Duke student discovers how AI shortcuts erode the intellectual skills she came to college to develop.
- Title: The AI trap: one student's reckoning · TIME | Shortify
- Summary: A Duke student discovers how AI shortcuts erode the intellectual skills she came to college to develop.
- Keywords: artificial intelligence, college students, duke university, chatgpt, intellectual development, generative ai, TIME
- Source: TIME — https://time.com/article/2026/11/06/how-ai-is-impacting-college-students-like-me
- Author: Alana Kaufman
- Published: 2026-11-06T15:35:32.623+00:00
- Read time: 2 min
- Topics: artificial intelligence, college students, duke university, chatgpt, intellectual development, generative ai, news, world
## First encounter with ChatGPT
A sophomore in high school asked ChatGPT to compare herself to Nick Carraway from The Great Gatsby. The AI produced flawless essay material instantly, but something felt wrong about claiming it as her own.
## High school divided on AI use
In Mr. Brown's AP Lit class, some students used AI to summarize Robert Frost poems without reading them. The author chose to do the work herself, and both groups got similar grades, which frustrated her.
## Arriving at Duke in 2024
She got into Duke, her dream school, expecting late-night philosophy discussions and deep engagement with classic literature. She wanted the intellectual experience her parents had described from their college years.
## Efficiency over learning
At Duke, students prioritized speed over depth, rushing pre-professional clubs and planning summer internships by week eight.The question everyone asked was how to get an A while spending as little time on schoolwork as possible.
## AI tilts the playing field
AI makes cutting corners frictionless. Students who offload coursework to AI gain time for clubs, internships and leadership roles that employers value. This disadvantages students who want intellectual exploration over professional advancement.
## The rule that crumbled
She made a rule: use AI only for busywork, never for subjects she loved.Classmates taught her effective prompts, halving her homework time.
## The moment of reckoning
Assigned a paper on political polarization, her favorite topic, she tried writing without AI.Her mind froze.She could gather notes but could not transform them into coherent writing.She had lost the skill without noticing.
## Quitting cold turkey
Frightened by how much of herself she had lost to AI, she quit completely.Withdrawal was painful.She struggled with frustration and impatience at intellectual challenges she once found pleasurable.She realized how insidious AI's effects were.

> What makes AI insidious is that we realize what we've lost only in hindsight, when we can no longer summon the perseverance needed for the tasks we used to find pleasurable.
## The choice ahead
Now a sophomore at Duke, she faces a crossroads. She can sacrifice professional advancement for intellectual curiosity, or pursue praise and career advantage. She remains torn between inner virtue and societal pressure.
## The Nick Carraway question
She compares herself to Nick Carraway, drawn to a glittering new world yet repulsed by its emotional emptiness. Like him, she wonders if she will eventually leave and seek a quieter, more fulfilling life.

> Like Nick Carraway, I am "within and without," drawn to a glittering new world, yet repulsed by its emotional emptiness.
## Key takeaway

A college student warns that using AI to cut corners on coursework, though tempting, quietly destroys the intellectual curiosity and perseverance she valued most.