{"id":80444,"date":"2026-06-05T00:18:36","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T04:18:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=80444"},"modified":"2026-06-05T00:18:36","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T04:18:36","slug":"eroding-a-virtue-ai-trains-people-to-expect-instant-answers-and-thats-bad-news-for-patience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/eroding-a-virtue-ai-trains-people-to-expect-instant-answers-and-thats-bad-news-for-patience\/","title":{"rendered":"Eroding a virtue: AI trains people to expect instant answers \u2013 and that\u2019s bad news for patience"},"content":{"rendered":"

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When I was growing up, teachers would assign research papers that required going to the library, or later, searching for relevant material on the internet. If the paper was going to turn out well, we students needed to patiently comb through piles of material, weaving what we found into a coherent argument that was well-supported with evidence.<\/p>\n

Unbeknownst to us at the time, our teachers were giving us a chance to develop our patience.<\/p>\n

That chance is rapidly disappearing with increased use of artificial intelligence tools. Now you can have an AI do everything from school assignments to legal writing, sermon preparation, vacation planning, work emails and academic research. Researchers are already documenting how\u00a0using AI tools in these contexts<\/a>\u00a0likely erodes critical thinking skills<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But what hasn\u2019t been appreciated is AI\u2019s effect on patience.\u00a0As a philosopher<\/a>\u00a0who has\u00a0written extensively<\/a>\u00a0about virtue, including the\u00a0virtue of patience<\/a>, I am especially concerned about what people can do to resist this trend.<\/p>\n

What is patience, and why is it important?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Patience involves responding calmly when it is taking longer than you want to accomplish your goals.<\/p>\n

When I am stuck in a traffic jam, or the checkout line is barely moving, I might wish that I was meeting my goals faster, but my calm demeanor is a sign that I am being patient. If I react to delays like these with frustration or anger, that is a sign that I am being impatient.<\/p>\n

The same applies in the case of doing research. If it is taking me awhile to find everything I need, that can test my patience. But if I react to such a delay with calmness, I avoid frustration or anger and hence impatience.<\/p>\n

Philosophers, theologians and educators have long considered patience an important character trait to cultivate. It is a virtue that contributes to\u00a0well-being<\/a>. More specifically, researchers have\u00a0linked it to a variety<\/a>\u00a0of good outcomes<\/a>, including\u00a0healthier lifestyles<\/a>,\u00a0greater emotion regulation<\/a>,\u00a0more fulfilling relationships<\/a>,\u00a0increased caring about equity and justice<\/a>,\u00a0increased cooperation<\/a>,\u00a0greater purpose in life<\/a>,\u00a0lower depression<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0higher life satisfaction<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Why AI tools erode a capacity for patience<\/h3>\n

AI tools are helping foster a culture of immediacy, thereby diminishing the capacity for patience. Admittedly, we already started down this path with the dawn of the internet and the launch of fast and easy search engines. But now, AI instantaneously delivers fully developed answers, further reducing the delays once experienced as people searched, assessed and integrated information from various sources.<\/p>\n

The training in patience that people used to get from thorough research and investigation is being replaced by a growing sense of impatience with thinking that takes time and effort. And this impatience doesn\u2019t just stop with research. It extends to writing as well.<\/p>\n

Research on AI and patience is still in its infancy. But my conclusions about these impacts rest on plausible inferences from what researchers know more generally about cognitive psychology. For instance, psychologists have long understood that people\u2019s\u00a0expectations change<\/a>\u00a0due to repeated use and exposure<\/a>\u00a0to something.<\/p>\n

This adaptation explains why the hourlong train ride to work can start out as exhausting, but become part of your daily routine. Or you might initially be impressed by how fast your new computer is, but after a while you take it for granted and get frustrated if loading a PowerPoint presentation takes even a few moments.<\/p>\n

Hence using AI tools is likely to recalibrate what feels normal to you. In particular, it is likely to normalize getting immediate, fully formed answers to your questions. This shift, I contend, makes people increasingly impatient with the very tasks of research and investigation that helped train us to become more patient in the past.<\/p>\n

One concrete illustration of this change is with students. If a professor gives an assignment involving interpreting an author\u2019s text and then developing a critique of the author\u2019s position,\u00a0students<\/a>\u00a0today<\/a>\u00a0are very tempted to offload the patient work of interpretation and critique to an AI.<\/p>\n

Or consider sermon preparation. Pastors normally take hours a week to examine the original language for their text, consult commentaries, develop illustrations and examples, and deliberate about practical applications. Now, this process can all be done in a matter of seconds using AI, and\u00a0one study<\/a>\u00a0found that a majority of pastors are using it for sermon preparation. There is no patience training happening here.<\/p>\n

What can be done?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

There are ways to cultivate patience in the age of AI tools, but they will not be easy. Here are three:<\/p>\n