While educators are still questioning how and if to use AI in the classroom, and even whether it can be done ethically, one thing is certain: AI is already a part of students’ lives. When conducting Awareness Raising Sessions with students from Babeș-Bolyai University in May 2025, this became abundantly clear. Not only are students using AI in their professional and academic lives, but they also rely on it in their personal lives. This episode explores AI’s potential impact on students’ lives, linking their reflections with recent research.

References

• Farzan, M., Ebrahimi, H., Pourali, M., & Sabeti, F. (2025). Artificial intelligence-powered cognitive behavioral therapy chatbots: A systematic review. Iranian Journal of Psychiatry, 20(1), 102. https://doi.org/10.18502/ijps.v20i1.17395
• Gerlich, M. (2025). AI tools in society: Impacts on cognitive offloading and the future of critical thinking. Societies, 15(1), 6. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc15010006
• Holt-Lunstad, J., Smith, T. B., Baker, M., Harris, T., & Stephenson, D. (2015). Loneliness and social isolation as risk factors for mortality: A meta-analytic review. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 10(2), 227–237. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691614568352
• OpenAI. (2025, February 10). Expanding on sycophancy. https://openai.com/index/expanding-on-sycophancy/
• Shen, J. H., & Tamkin, A. (2026). How AI impacts skill formation. arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2601.20245
• Surkalim, D. L., Luo, M., Eres, R., Gebel, K., van Buskirk, J., Bauman, A., & Ding, D. (2022). The prevalence of loneliness across 113 countries: Systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ, 376, e067061. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2021-067068

Episode conducted by the BBU team and produced by the University of Padua (UNIPD).