Eroding a virtue: AI trains people to expect instant answers – and that’s bad news for patience
Eroding a virtue: AI trains people to expect instant answers – and that’s bad news for patience
Publish Date: 2026-06-04 08:19:00
Source Domain: theconversation.com
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.
Unbeknownst to us at the time, our teachers were giving us a chance to develop our patience.
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 using AI tools in these contexts likely erodes critical thinking skills.
But what hasn’t been appreciated is AI’s effect on patience. As a philosopher who has written extensively about virtue, including the virtue of patience, I am especially concerned about what people can do to resist this trend.
How do you react to waiting in a long, boring line?
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What is patience, and why is it important?
Patience involves responding calmly when it is taking longer than you want to accomplish your goals.
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.
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.
Philosophers, theologians and educators have long considered patience an important character trait to cultivate. It is a virtue that…
