Generative AI, Critical Thinking and Social Work Practice

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a field of computer science focused on creating machines that can perform tasks requiring human-like intelligence, such as learning, problem-solving, decision-making, and understanding language, by processing large amounts of data to recognise patterns and adapt. AI is increasingly becoming embedded in everyday life, particularly generative AI, from the tools we use to communicate, to the systems that support administrative tasks and decision-making. Generative AI creates new content in text, audio or visual form, in response to a prompt (BASW, 2025). It draws from the internet and what people post and say, and is trained on large sets of data using natural language processing (NLP) – to help computers interpret and generate human language – and machine learning (ML) to find patterns, make decisions and predict outcomes without being programmed for every task.