DeepSeek, AI, and Its Danger to Today’s Teens

Fostering Intellectual Laziness - the LAST thing we need.

Artificial intelligence is back in the headlines, this time thanks to DeepSeek, a new player in the AI space that has disrupted the market with a faster, cheaper, and more efficient model. DeepSeek’s innovation—delivering more accurate answers while using less power, hardware, and digital resources—has sent shockwaves through the industry. NVIDIA, the chipmaker, saw its stock price plummet by $600 billion in a single day, dragging much of the market down with it. But beyond the financial turmoil, DeepSeek’s rise highlights a deeper issue: the growing influence of AI on our intellectual lives, particularly among teenagers.

The problem isn’t just about market dynamics or technological advancements. It’s about what AI is doing to the minds of young people. By offering instant answers and effortless solutions, AI is contributing to the atrophy of teens’ innate intellectual curiosity, replacing it with a dangerous form of intellectual laziness.

The Convenience Trap

AI tools like DeepSeek, ChatGPT, and other large language models (LLMs) are designed to make life easier. Ask a question, and you get an answer—fast. But this convenience comes at a cost. When teens can access pre-packaged solutions with minimal effort, they lose the motivation to dig deeper, ask questions, or wrestle with complex ideas. Learning becomes a passive activity rather than an active pursuit.

This isn’t just speculation; it’s a pattern I’ve observed firsthand. As someone who works with high school students, I’ve seen a troubling decline in curiosity and engagement. Many students today seem indifferent to learning, focused only on passing tests and earning credits. They’ve been conditioned to view education as a series of checkboxes rather than an opportunity to explore, question, and grow.

The Death of Critical Thinking

One of the most alarming consequences of AI’s rise is its impact on critical thinking. When AI provides answers that are not only quick but also seemingly authoritative, teens are less likely to question or analyze the information they receive. This is particularly concerning when it comes to controversial or complex topics.

For example, mainstream AI models have been criticized for delivering politically correct, vague, or even inaccurate responses to sensitive questions. When asked about topics like evolution, politics, or historical events, these models often produce answers that align with prevailing narratives rather than encouraging independent thought. DeepSeek, with its more dispassionate and accurate approach, represents a step forward in this regard. But even so, the underlying issue remains: teens are increasingly reliant on machines to think for them.

Even DeepSeek has limitations. Apparently it either won’t answer, or won’t answer truthfully about China. Its ability to remain loyal to its home country, China, is baked into the cake, or code, as it will. This means we are adding yet another layer of informational warping into the minds of today’s teenagers. “Artificial Intelligence Sovereignty” seems more appropriate.

A Generation of Outsourced Curiosity

The real danger lies in what this reliance on AI is doing to teens’ intellectual development. Curiosity—the desire to ask questions, seek answers, and explore the unknown—is the foundation of learning. Yet, in a world where AI can do the heavy lifting, many teens are losing that drive.

Consider this: I recently asked a class of seniors to identify the text of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This was a class of top students. They have all the intellectual tools of the students of the past. A few I would classify as extremely bright. Only one student, who wasn’t even born in the United States, could correctly identify it. The others guessed it was “biblical” or simply had no idea. This lack of basic knowledge isn’t entirely their fault. They’ve been trained to focus on passing tests, not on understanding or retaining information. And now, with AI at their fingertips, they have even less incentive to engage with the material.

The Dopamine Dilemma

Compounding the problem is the way AI and other digital tools cater to our desire for instant gratification. Teens today are constantly bombarded with short, entertaining videos and quick answers that deliver a dopamine hit without requiring any real effort. It’s like the lab rat that keeps pressing a lever for a reward, ignoring food and water until it starves. In the same way, teens are becoming addicted to the easy, shallow stimulation that AI and social media provide, at the expense of deeper, more meaningful intellectual engagement.

What’s at Stake

If this trend continues, we risk raising a generation that lacks the curiosity, critical thinking skills, and intellectual resilience needed to navigate an increasingly complex world. The consequences extend far beyond the classroom. A society that values convenience over curiosity, speed over depth, and efficiency over exploration is one that stifles innovation, creativity, and progress.

A Call to Action

So, what can we do? As parents, educators, and mentors, we need to push back against the tide of intellectual laziness. This means setting boundaries on AI use, encouraging hands-on problem-solving, and fostering environments where questioning and experimentation are celebrated. It means teaching teens that learning isn’t just about passing tests or getting the “right” answer—it’s about the joy of discovery and the satisfaction of figuring things out for themselves. I have gone back to a classroom that, other than the smartboard, resembles something more like 2005 than 2025. Everything gets handed in on paper, and digital submissions are not accepted.

It has has some effect. Unfortunately, it has exposed the lack of intellectual curiosity among my students as well as their inability to write. These are the issues I am trying to rectify.

AI is a powerful tool, but it should complement, not replace, the development of critical thinking and curiosity. If we fail to address this issue, we risk losing something far more valuable than the convenience AI provides: the innate human drive to wonder, to question, and to seek understanding.

The future of learning—and of our society—depends on our ability to nurture curiosity in the next generation. Let’s not outsource it to machines.

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This article is sponsored by tftprofitacademy.com. Thank you for reading, and I’ll talk to you next time.

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Here is the best article I’ve read on the $600B market cap drop experienced by nVidia on January 27th. It was written two days before DeepSeek was unleashed into the wild and caused Stock Market Mayhem:

https://youtubetranscriptoptimizer.com/blog/05_the_short_case_for_nvda