#AI4M*: More on AI and Critical Thinking
*Note: In the forthcoming 2026 release of Essentials of Marketing, we highlight content showing how AI is used in marketing with “#AI4M” (AI for marketing). We will also use it here at the blog.
A recent Teach the 4 Ps post asked, “#AI4M*: Does AI harm (or foster) critical thinking?” (August 20, 2025). After that post, I got an email from Harvard Business School Publishing that featured a related article from a couple of months ago, “AI Should Push, Not Replace, Students’ Thinking” (Inspiring Minds, July 6, 2025) that provided some great ideas on this topic. As we all wrestle with how ot use AI in our classrooms, I think this offers some excellent thinking. Here is a short (AI-generated) summary of that article.
In this compelling piece, Nick Potkalitsky reframes the conversation about AI in education, urging educators not to ban or blindly embrace generative tools but to guide students toward what he calls possibility literacy. This concept emphasizes the intentional use of AI—recognizing both its efficiencies and limitations—so that students can maintain intellectual agency while developing critical and creative thinking skills. Rather than treating AI as either a threat or a shortcut, possibility literacy invites learners to navigate the productive paradoxes that AI introduces, such as the tension between enhanced output and reduced ownership of ideas.
Potkalitsky highlights three key human skills essential in the AI era: pattern recognition, directed divergence, and reflective synthesis. Through vivid classroom examples—like comparing climate change narratives across AI platforms from different cultures or using creative constraints to push story generation—he illustrates how students can move from passive users of AI to thoughtful investigators and collaborators. The article ultimately argues that the future of education isn’t about resisting AI but equipping students to engage with it in ways that deepen learning, personalize discovery, and reinforce ethical, independent thinking. It’s an essential read for any instructor looking to turn AI into a tool for thought, not a replacement of it.
ChatGPT generated the summary of the Inspiring Minds article and the image featured in this post.