EPISODE

Can AI be a tool for learning, or does it present barriers to learning by entrenching biases and weakening skills? Prof. Amy Ko’s Medium post, More than calculators: Why large language models threaten learning, teaching, and education, is a trenchant analysis of how AI will negatively impact education, if we are not thoughtful about its deployment. While generative AI could be a useful tool in education, as currently constituted, its inability to understand individuals while offering students the path of least resistance renders it dangerous. In this discussion, Amy and Dave discuss student-teacher relationships, large language models and their challenges, messaging by AI firms, and, most critically, where educators go from here. 

“And what we haven’t done as a society, what we haven’t taken the time to do yet, is really figure out, what are the tasks [AI] is good for? What are the tasks it’s not good for? What are the tasks where if we start doing it, it actually could lead to some really bad things?”

-Amy Ko

“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.

-William Butler Yeats

Lead photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash