In the Age of AI, Questions Matter More Than Answers | Opinion

In the era of Artificial Intelligence, the importance of questions has taken precedence over answers in education. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) revealed in 2026 that 75% of students aged 16 and above utilized generative AI tools in 2025. Simultaneously, the World Economic Forum predicts that by 2030, 39% of workers' core skills will shift, with creative thinking, resilience, and curiosity becoming more crucial.

This shift in the definition of useful intelligence should prompt a transformation in how schools value students' achievements. Traditionally, education has primarily trained students to solve given problems: calculate answers, write essays, complete assignments, and pass tests. However, with AI capable of producing plausible answers in seconds, merely reaching the answer can no longer be considered the pinnacle of intellectual achievement.

The most valuable skill may increasingly involve identifying problems worth solving. Creating problems does not mean generating difficulties but rather noticing overlooked issues, challenging question premises, identifying better questions, and imposing useful constraints. Innovation rarely begins by answering an obvious question faster; it begins when someone questions why everyone is answering that question in the first place.

This is why the ongoing debate about whether AI makes young people more or less creative is misleading. AI can both flatten thinking when students accept its first response as authoritative and accelerate exploration by exposing users to alternatives, making experimentation more affordable. The real danger is not having too many ideas but lacking the judgment to distinguish valuable ideas.

This judgment is cultivated through friction, such as struggling with a question, testing assumptions, discovering failures, and trying alternative approaches. This process develops taste, skepticism, and discernment, enabling individuals to critically evaluate AI-generated responses. The benefits of AI extending into education are significant.

With routine tasks like retrieval, drafting, and iteration handled by AI, more time can be allocated to historically marginalized abilities such as curiosity, experimentation, discussion, invention, and decision-making. The OECD's 2026 Digital Education Outlook cautions that general-purpose AI can enhance task performance without necessarily improving learning, whereas AI employed with deliberate pedagogical intent can support critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration.

This change is not limited to classrooms. The WEF's research indicates that employers increasingly value human skills like creative thinking, resilience, and lifelong learning alongside AI and technological literacy. The future will not solely belong to those proficient in operating AI. Almost everyone will, and the advantage will lie in knowing what to ask AI, when to distrust it, and how to proceed after receiving multiple plausible answers.

Consequently, schools should revise assessments rather than merely introducing AI policies. Starting from the 2027-28 academic year, education systems should mandate at least one question-first assessment in every secondary-school course each term. Students will be graded on how they define problems, challenge assumptions, generate alternative possibilities, evaluate evidence, explain their chosen path, and disclose AI usage.

The final answer should only constitute a part of the grade. If we continue to educate children primarily to produce answers, we risk preparing them to compete with machines on tasks AI is improving at rapidly. However, if we teach them to frame better problems and make better judgments, AI can become a valuable tool, not a substitute for creativity, but a means to enhance human creativity, making us more human in the age of artificial answers.