Think Faster, Argue Smarter: Combining GenAI-Assisted Prep and Human-Centered Rebuttals to Enhance Critical Thinking in Structured Debates

This experiential exercise adapts the traditional Oxford-style debate format to channel the pervasive student usage of Generative AI (GenAI) into a productive tension, inviting students to sharpen their critical reasoning, rhetorical discernment, and real-time argumentation skills. Students use GenAI to help them develop initial arguments and counterarguments, then engage in real-time rebuttals where they must think independently, respond to novel challenges, and adapt beyond their GenAI-prepared materials. This approach transforms GenAI from a potential crutch into a pedagogical catalyst that reveals the irreplaceable value of audience engagement, human judgment, critical thinking, and adaptive reasoning. The exercise forces students to scrutinize reasoning (both GenAI’s and their own) against standards of logic, clarity, and relevance, by confronting GenAI-assisted arguments and then dealing with spontaneous counterarguments. The exercise has been implemented in undergraduate strategic management and business ethics classes. It can also be valuable for higher-level courses and for other course subjects.