A Korean translation is given in the link. English is the original version. This note is a draft for announcement in the following semester class.

Due to recent advances in generative AI, it is highly tempting to use it to solve a homework problem. Of course, I understand that you might feel it is easy to achieve a better score with AI, requiring less effort, but you also feel you are letting your brain outsource, becoming less competent than before. I think this is one of the environmental challenges we face because TikTok or YouTube Shorts weaken your concentration over time, and the weakened middle education due to COVID-19. I am also highly influenced by YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels these days, and it is not that easy to deviate from them! I also understand that it is hard to concentrate on something more than before because there are so many tempting things that you could easily deviate from the path that you had to walk.

However, as a member of the teaching staff, it is my responsibility to help you get out of these trends and become who you want to be. As I talk with other students, this is not my own thinking, but you keep thinking about those concerns. I also feel that way after I use generative AI these days. I also actively use those when I want to sharpen my logic or seek some initial background, but I always double-check by reading some concrete references.

After ChatGPT launched, many students turned to generative AI to help them solve homework. It is totally okay to use generative AI to help your learning process, but it is not desirable to rely on those tools by letting your brain do the work for those computers. Your brain deserves to work. You should be aware of yourself, what you know, and what you don’t know. The point here is that active learning is more important than before.

I want to bring a famous quote from Richard Feynman: “The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. It is highly possible that you could say something that you don’t know. I found those in the advent of AI and in YouTube’s algorithm selection, which can lead to incorrect information or knowledge that is not easy to understand on that learning curve, and will give a misconception. Hence, it is more important than ever that you distinguish whether I really understand the key content or not. This lesson can also be found in an old saying from the Chinese philosopher Laozi: “To know that you do not know is the highest wisdom. To not know that you do not know is a disease. Only when one recognizes the disease as a disease can one be free from it”. In this age of AI, ‘pretending to know’ has become an easy trap to fall into, but it is a trap that prevents true growth.

In the last semester, I found that some students submitted homework they did not understand; for instance, imagine that elementary school students calculated the area of a triangle using calculus. This kind of logical fallacy makes it clear that the brain was not engaged. To protect the integrity of our learning community, I had to report those cases as academic misconduct. Please understand that our evaluations now depend heavily on in-person assessment; if you don’t understand the topic in your heart, you cannot pass or earn a satisfactory score if you rely solely on generative AI.

I know many of you have excelled in everything you have done so far. That’s why you’re here. Learning process is painful, and I am here to help you get through those difficulties. Failure will guide you to get a correct intuition to solve a problem, and discussion will lead to another big intellectual leap. I once spent three years struggling with a problem. I spent months stuck, feeling small as I watched others prove brilliant results. When I told my mentor, “It’s not working,” he gave me the most important lesson of my life. He said, “That’s good news. If it were easy, it wouldn’t be worth your time”. Failure wasn’t a waste of time. It was the process of sharpening my intuition. I still remember the moment of breakthrough. I was on a crowded metro when suddenly an abstract idea became a vivid image in my head, so I pulled out my notebook and began scribbling against the train door. That sudden flash of beauty is a human privilege that no AI can ever experience or give to you.

In the end, I want to ask you: what makes you distinct from generative AI? Many brilliant stories emerged from a unique idea rooted in life experiences. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe, and Hamlet by Shakespeare (although the motivation is debated, the novel or movie Hamnet (2025) could offer an interesting theory) can be born from unique life experiences. Using generative AI alone will yield an average idea that is indistinguishable from any other. Mathematics is an art that captures phenomena in a rigorous, concise, and logical language. Great mathematics comes from a desire to solve or answer mysterious questions.

Throughout this course, I hope that you will learn something from mathematics that will help you answer those questions on your own. Jonathan Larson, who wrote the famous Broadway musical “Rent,” said, “The opposite of war is not peace; it’s creation.” Of course, his life was to struggle against his diseases as well as financial stuff. However, we are in a war for our attention, fighting against algorithms and the temptation of shortcuts. Being quiet or passive brings an illusion of peace, and actually, peace does not solely exist. The creation is achieved by actively engaging your brain to build something that belongs only to you. I hope that this mathematics course will give you a good experience after you leave Brown.