6 Comments

Thanks for giving Zainah a voice on your Substack, Nick!

It's refreshing to hear a "real" person's perspective, outside of my AI bubble.

I tend to lean on the side of optimism when it comes to AI's long-term impact on education (as well as many other fields.) We haven't quite found a bulletproof way of incorporating AI into the curriculum, but it's a necessity increasingly more educators will have to face.

I kind of like the approach of the teacher quoted here: "I’ll let you use AI in this class, however you please. You will get an A. However, you will only get that A if and ONLY if, in your own words, you explain how the program you used got to that point."

This is probably the future direction we're heading. Seen in that light, AI could help to level up the quality of education across the board and maybe lift the expectations we can place on students collaborating with AI tools.

I personally enjoy the philosophy of Ethan Mollick, who mentioned that he now outright *requires* the use of AI in some of his classes, with the added expectation of higher performance and deeper appreciation of the topics. And he also wants his students to reflect on the areas where AI is helpful, and in what ways.

I understand the knee-jerk reaction of many educators to ban AI, but it'll be exceedingly hard to put that genie back in the bottle. Also, it may well lead to more horror stories of students being accused of cheating when they haven't, seeing how AI detectors aren't reliable, to put it mildly. (Ethan Mollick actually covers this as the very first item in his recent FAQ: https://www.oneusefulthing.org/p/what-people-ask-me-most-also-some)

I'd love to see AI become ubiquitous and truly useful as a brainstorming partner, a tutor, a second pair of eyes, etc. for students and help them reach their potential faster. I hope educators will embrace this future and work towards making it a reality. Guess "Educating AI" is one great place to start, eh?

EDIT: Oh, and thank you for the shout-out, Nick!

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Nick, that was a brilliant idea! As Daniel noted, bringing a fresh perspective outside the AI BUBBLE is indeed what we might need to consider to maintain a balanced view. Good job 👍

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One question I have: has Zainah seen other students using AI, and does she think all of the worry about AI-enabled cheating is justified or not?

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This was such a delight to read. Thank you. Zainah sounds like an amazing young woman. Old soul indeed! I wish her all the best 🤗

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I like this type of interview

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You don’t , there no way to prove, you can always prompt it to act like

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