Thank you for sharing the full story of the lesson, the responses, and the learning process throughout. Do you ever use Neil Postman's Technopoly? Finishing up a one semester course for high school seniors in a public school on AI and Ethics - and we ended up being more focused about language use within the public sphere from public figures about public AI products being offered as innovation (The Elon Musk "We Robot" event and the language he used to pitch the Optimus robot in October) compared to your ELA course really grounded in rich use of thoughtful texts on the topic and then your challenging use of writing for personal reflection and intellectual growth. EQ for the course - What is artificial intelligence to you in 2025: a tool, progress, and/or human replacement? Would appreciate your perspective on the question and your students' viewpoints as well.
Sounds like you are doing great work, Scott. Focusing on public discourse is a really smart way to do things. Captivating--- opens up a lot of good interpretive work for students. Let me know if you want to report out on your process.
Would very much like to report out, yes! Hopeful more US public high school teachers are willing to teach about AI across the public sphere as much as they are contending with practical daily questions about usage.
I invite you to write for submission. Take Marta's recent article as a guide. Part theory and invitation to read good books, part classroom description and analysis of practice. Feel free to dig into grounding if you feel moved. Or we could postpone that for a later piece. No rush on this. I have a few articles lined up for the next couple weeks. Happy to read cool pieces about real-world case studies whenever they come my way.
Thank you! Symbolic grounding does seem to hold a particular nexus with these current public-facing AI tools. A handful of my students used some of your work in their final presentations - would you like me to send along Slides?
Thanks so much for reading my article and for your questions! It sounds like you are also doing some great work with your students. Analyzing discourse and language choices when AI is discussed must be very revealing - insofar is users select their words intentionally.
After listening to Yuval Noah Harari's recent interview about AI (posted on my LinkedIn), for now I think that some instantiations of AI are mere tools, while others have exercised their own agency to the degree that he argues they are not "artificial intelligence" but rather "alien intelligence." These more advanced forms guide their own learning and make their own decisions, influencing human behavior at times without humans' awareness of the manipulation. He uses a chilling example of Facebook's algorithm following the simple rule to "maximize engagement." It calculated that hateful and angry messages triggered more engagement, and so it pushed those to users, overwhelming positive messages. Therefore, its users' behaviors, influenced by these messages, also grew more negatively extreme, while the messages of those arguing for peace or cooperation were drowned out. This negative behavior led to tens of thousands of deaths. AI doesn't need "intention" or "qualia" to exercise power over human lives. Yuval argues that we give away our power too readily, but we can turn that trend around.
I have just started reading Genesis: Artificial Intelligence, Hope, and the Human Spirit, (gifted to me by a parent) written by Kissinger, Mundie, and Schmidt. Whatever we think of Kissinger overall, I think he had a good handle on human history and understood behavior, and human natures, through that lens. I think there are a lot of great people out there using AI with the best of intentions, but an AI-race between China and the US, with a few bad actors thrown into the mix, is something we need to protect human dignity, and values, against. (I haven't yet opened this conversation with my students. I don't know enough about it yet.) I do think that we teachers are currently outmatched. So I'm so glad you are working with your students to exercise critical thinking and try to catch up!
Hi Ramon! Good question! I guess it depends if self-improvement is one of their goals. Most of my students at my current school are quite ambitious, but pursuing inner character virtues is something we need to remind them is part of their journey to success. They are quite focused on the short-term goals of college acceptance, and not on the people they are becoming to get them. If/As over-reliance on AI in the coming years of their learning journey nurtures them away from the pursuit of self-improvement, I'm not sure they will know what they're losing as its happening, or be able to conceptualize/imagine the very thing they lack access to. THAT said, I'm optimistic that at least some of them can be inspired in a more holistic, well-rounded direction!
You hit on one of greatest risks of AI, us delegating our critical thinking skills to a machine for the sake of convenience.
Fortunately, it’s not an inevitability, but we have fight against the current.
AI is offering all kinds of promises in the name of making your life easier, but we often don’t consider the longer-term consequences of our decisions.
There’s a unique opportunity in educate to inspire and encourage a change in direction. Honestly, in many ways, I understand why the younger generation wants to check out. They look around and see all the nonsense wondering, “why would I waste my time on this.” And, in many ways they’re right.
Yet, we have an opportunity to not push them to maintain the status quo but expecting them to do it the way we’ve done. If we invite them to think differently and fix what’s broken, I firmly believe we can change course, reignite critical thinking, and leverage AI to create a better future.
Thank you for your great thoughts! I agree with all of your points, Christopher. And I would add that we have to model and inspire them by ourselves becoming the confident, hard-working, imaginative, optimistic, and resilient adults who think differently, work to fix what's broken, and thus lead the way. My students are "professional" about being students, but they are still young on the inside. I, too, would freak out if the adults in my world left everything in my lap. But I am inspired by Vaclav Havel's famous essay "The Power of the Powerless."
I love that your bio includes thinking "10 steps ahead"! What have you been thinking about lately? (I, too, am trying to think ahead, but maybe I'm not that far yet!)
Thank you for sharing the full story of the lesson, the responses, and the learning process throughout. Do you ever use Neil Postman's Technopoly? Finishing up a one semester course for high school seniors in a public school on AI and Ethics - and we ended up being more focused about language use within the public sphere from public figures about public AI products being offered as innovation (The Elon Musk "We Robot" event and the language he used to pitch the Optimus robot in October) compared to your ELA course really grounded in rich use of thoughtful texts on the topic and then your challenging use of writing for personal reflection and intellectual growth. EQ for the course - What is artificial intelligence to you in 2025: a tool, progress, and/or human replacement? Would appreciate your perspective on the question and your students' viewpoints as well.
Sounds like you are doing great work, Scott. Focusing on public discourse is a really smart way to do things. Captivating--- opens up a lot of good interpretive work for students. Let me know if you want to report out on your process.
Would very much like to report out, yes! Hopeful more US public high school teachers are willing to teach about AI across the public sphere as much as they are contending with practical daily questions about usage.
I invite you to write for submission. Take Marta's recent article as a guide. Part theory and invitation to read good books, part classroom description and analysis of practice. Feel free to dig into grounding if you feel moved. Or we could postpone that for a later piece. No rush on this. I have a few articles lined up for the next couple weeks. Happy to read cool pieces about real-world case studies whenever they come my way.
Thank you! Symbolic grounding does seem to hold a particular nexus with these current public-facing AI tools. A handful of my students used some of your work in their final presentations - would you like me to send along Slides?
I'd love to. Send them to me at potkalitsky@gmail.com.
Dear Scott,
Thanks so much for reading my article and for your questions! It sounds like you are also doing some great work with your students. Analyzing discourse and language choices when AI is discussed must be very revealing - insofar is users select their words intentionally.
After listening to Yuval Noah Harari's recent interview about AI (posted on my LinkedIn), for now I think that some instantiations of AI are mere tools, while others have exercised their own agency to the degree that he argues they are not "artificial intelligence" but rather "alien intelligence." These more advanced forms guide their own learning and make their own decisions, influencing human behavior at times without humans' awareness of the manipulation. He uses a chilling example of Facebook's algorithm following the simple rule to "maximize engagement." It calculated that hateful and angry messages triggered more engagement, and so it pushed those to users, overwhelming positive messages. Therefore, its users' behaviors, influenced by these messages, also grew more negatively extreme, while the messages of those arguing for peace or cooperation were drowned out. This negative behavior led to tens of thousands of deaths. AI doesn't need "intention" or "qualia" to exercise power over human lives. Yuval argues that we give away our power too readily, but we can turn that trend around.
I have just started reading Genesis: Artificial Intelligence, Hope, and the Human Spirit, (gifted to me by a parent) written by Kissinger, Mundie, and Schmidt. Whatever we think of Kissinger overall, I think he had a good handle on human history and understood behavior, and human natures, through that lens. I think there are a lot of great people out there using AI with the best of intentions, but an AI-race between China and the US, with a few bad actors thrown into the mix, is something we need to protect human dignity, and values, against. (I haven't yet opened this conversation with my students. I don't know enough about it yet.) I do think that we teachers are currently outmatched. So I'm so glad you are working with your students to exercise critical thinking and try to catch up!
Hi Ramon! Good question! I guess it depends if self-improvement is one of their goals. Most of my students at my current school are quite ambitious, but pursuing inner character virtues is something we need to remind them is part of their journey to success. They are quite focused on the short-term goals of college acceptance, and not on the people they are becoming to get them. If/As over-reliance on AI in the coming years of their learning journey nurtures them away from the pursuit of self-improvement, I'm not sure they will know what they're losing as its happening, or be able to conceptualize/imagine the very thing they lack access to. THAT said, I'm optimistic that at least some of them can be inspired in a more holistic, well-rounded direction!
Fantastic article! Thank you. Would love to access her unit plan and lessons for these classic texts and AI.
You hit on one of greatest risks of AI, us delegating our critical thinking skills to a machine for the sake of convenience.
Fortunately, it’s not an inevitability, but we have fight against the current.
AI is offering all kinds of promises in the name of making your life easier, but we often don’t consider the longer-term consequences of our decisions.
There’s a unique opportunity in educate to inspire and encourage a change in direction. Honestly, in many ways, I understand why the younger generation wants to check out. They look around and see all the nonsense wondering, “why would I waste my time on this.” And, in many ways they’re right.
Yet, we have an opportunity to not push them to maintain the status quo but expecting them to do it the way we’ve done. If we invite them to think differently and fix what’s broken, I firmly believe we can change course, reignite critical thinking, and leverage AI to create a better future.
Thank you for your great thoughts! I agree with all of your points, Christopher. And I would add that we have to model and inspire them by ourselves becoming the confident, hard-working, imaginative, optimistic, and resilient adults who think differently, work to fix what's broken, and thus lead the way. My students are "professional" about being students, but they are still young on the inside. I, too, would freak out if the adults in my world left everything in my lap. But I am inspired by Vaclav Havel's famous essay "The Power of the Powerless."
I love that your bio includes thinking "10 steps ahead"! What have you been thinking about lately? (I, too, am trying to think ahead, but maybe I'm not that far yet!)
I wonder 🤔... If A.I. discourages the need of self improvement, does that also destroys students ambitious goals?