India, Dec. 8 -- Artificial intelligence didn't storm into education. There was no grand moment when classrooms suddenly changed. Instead, AI arrived slowly - through shortcuts during late-night study sessions, through apps that explained equations more patiently than tutors, through quick rewrites before a deadline. Over time, these small interactions added up. What once felt novel became routine. For many students today, AI is simply part of how thinking happens.

A final-year engineering student in Delhi said something recently that captured this shift perfectly: "Sometimes I'm not sure where my thinking ends and where the AI's suggestion begins." She wasn't admitting guilt. She was trying to describe a new intellectual experience - th...