Terry Greene is an award-winning senior e-learning designer for the Trent Teaching Commons. His podcast, “Gettin’ Air: The Open Pedagogy Podcast” aims to broaden access to learning by promoting the use of freely available educational resources, which remove barriers to education and foster equitable and inclusive learning environments. 

Resistance training isn’t just for muscles—it’s for minds, too. 

Lifting weights builds strength by pushing back against something heavy. The same principle applies to thinking. When we resist the easy shortcuts of AI and challenge the way we think, we exercise our cognitive muscles—an essential workout in an era where automation threatens to replace, rather than support, human intelligence. 

My colleague at the Trent Teaching Commons, Lillian Alberry, is a champion lifter of heavy things, so I asked what she loves about weight training. She stated simply: “The sense of accomplishment and empowerment.” 

The good news is you don’t need to lift steel to feel empowered. Resisting or challenging AI as a replacement of critical thinking is its own kind of mental strength training. 

The Case for AI Resistance

When AI becomes a substitute for deep engagement—writing, problem-solving, real conversation—we offload cognition and weaken our intellectual stamina. Chuck Pearson, in The Ethical Case for Resisting AI, argues that generative AI “undermines my students’ humanity” by removing opportunities to think, create, and connect. That’s worth resisting. 

Here’s how: 

Step One: Show Up

The hardest part of any workout is getting started. In this case, it’s choosing to engage. Log out of ChatGPT. Log into Chat Up-to-Me. Hard part over. 

Step Two: The Warm-Up

Before lifting heavy, you start light—maybe a bodyweight squat or an empty-bar bench press. For an AI resistance warm-up, read Pearson’s post. Let the ideas sink in. You might feel a spark of inspiration to prevent the erosion of human-centred learning, and that spark means you’re alert. 

Step Three: The Heavy Lifting

Google’s NotebookLM can digest an article and generate a scripted podcast-style conversation between two “people” discussing its key points. But why let AI do that cognitive workout? 

Instead, grab a workout partner, pick an article (maybe Pearson’s), and have a real 30-minute discussion. Wrestle with the ideas. Push each other’s arguments. No need to record it. The learning happens in the doing and AI can’t take it away. 

Step Four: The Cool Down

After weight training, you stretch or take a walk. After an AI-resistance session, reflect. Go outside. Think about what you gained by engaging deeply rather than handing over your cognitive work to a machine. Sense of accomplishment? Achieved. 

Training for the Future

Resisting AI’s overreach isn’t about avoiding technology—it’s about knowing when to use it, and when to engage fully in the learning process.  

This is what the Kawartha Teaching and Technology Conference is all about. The virtual conference hosted by Trent Teaching Commons and Fleming’s Learning Design and Support Team on February 19, is dedicated to helping educators navigate this balance. The free event includes workshops and talks devoted to AI alongside sessions decidedly not focused on AI. You can work out your critical thinking skills in both areas.  

Learn more about how the Trent Teaching Commons is working to critically engage with digital tools while preserving what makes learning human.