Many believe that the power in GenAI agents lies in information processing such as analysing data, summarising documents, or solving equations. While these tasks can indeed be done with efficiency there is an increasing argument that higher confidence with GenAI diminishes our capacity for critical thinking. However, the real ‘magic’ emerges when GenAI is used as a partner, combining human expertise and context awareness with thoughtful prompting and sustained engagement. All of this, crucially, requires critical thinking.   

Designing effective GenAI prompts is almost a discipline in itself. Prompting is far from a mindless task as crafting effective prompts requires synthesis, analysis and evaluation. In our work, for instance, we have explored GenAI to support rubric design, a process whereby best practice and clarity of intent are crucial. Evidence shows that effective prompts require strategic and forward thinking, building human agency with GenAI engagement. Put simply, GenAI outputs are only ever as good as the quality of prompts that shape them.   

Generative Pre-Trained Transformers (GPTs) are themselves designed by highly skilled thinkers; individuals with the insights and skills to craft effective prompts that achieve successful outputs. These inbuilt prompt structures allow GPTs to assist others with what may be considered mundane tasks, saving time and energy. Yet we might argue that relying solely on pre-prompted GPTs reduces the need for end users to engage critically. By contrast, the strongest outcomes emerge when prompts are generated, critiqued and refined, by those with disciplinary expertise. The deeper the engagement with GenAI, the more powerful the result.

Prompting as a Cognitive Workout 

Our experience is that every time we construct a prompt, it feels like we are putting our brain through a cognitive workout. A good prompt requires us to work in an iterative way: analyse the problem, evaluate possible phrasing, and ultimately constructing a sequence that guides an effective output tailored to our context. We are not off-loading our thinking to GenAI; rather, we end up reverse-engineering it.   This is what we mean by “cognitive workout”. Through these iterations, we may be prompted to consider possibilities we had not thought of before, highlighting gaps in our thinking processes, which in turn reframes our approach. It necessitates clarifying our ideas in advance. It also reminds us to define goals, judge relevance and curate the final artefact. In this sense, it mirrors established pedagogies such as inquiry or problem-based learning. It is about asking more considered questions not just getting quicker answers.  

Critical Thinking in Practice 

Being a content expert makes collaboration with GenAI agents more powerful because we are prompting and engaging more deeply with what might be described as an ‘online collegial friend’. This in turn can help us reimagine GenAI outputs and outcomes that may not have been previously considered. When we craft prompts, we may consider the following questions: What do I really want to know? and What is the best way in which to phrase this? Clarification of the purpose of the task at hand, our intent and anticipated outcomes, sharpens the metacognitive loop, aligning with reflective practice, which is a form of self-regulated learning that asks us how we might do things better in future. 

Human critical thinking remains pivotal in this process. It is after all humans who frame the line of inquiry, curate the outputs and evaluate their relevance.  

For educators, this may present opportunities. Research in this area is still evolving. However, asking students to design and refine prompts may be another way of engaging critical thinking processes in the classroom. Instead of using a passive cut and paste process which allows one to receive basic answers, students have the opportunity to analyse the problem, clarify the intent, critique the response and adapt their phrasing. This process may further scaffold ethical and thoughtful engagement with GenAI while building digital literacy and application skills.  

The Power of Critical Thinking 

Prompting GenAI is not simply what we know but what we ask and how we do this. Each exchange requires a re-engagement with the GenAI agent to develop further prompts, rethinking with our own expertise and knowledge, which are often nuanced. Rather than seeing prompting as a shortcut, we see it as a deliberate cognitive process.  

This raises the bigger question of what critical thinking actually involves in practice. For us, in prompting, it involves a workout. It is not just analysing or evaluating but a rigorous session of critical reflection and reason as we frame, refine and iterate.

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