An entire generation of students will come of age within this generative era. Does anyone believe their exposure to the technology as a cheating tool, deepfake generator, or a creepy simulator of human voices and avatars will lead them to view it positively?
I teach high-school English to good kids. But the temptation is just too great for them—and they represent the public at large for whom bread and circuses suffice to guide daily choices. No amount of ethical preaching will work. Regulation (many different guises for this, like local LLM’s and training in how to use them) or a commitment to offline learning is the only way forward.
The potential societal impacts are terrifying. We already have filter bubbles, now we'll have bespoke personas - so much easier to get along with than real people. Forget fake news - fake your own news, and have it delivered by your favorite flavor of cartoon character! It is horrible to be living in the genesis of the Mad Max/Terminator/zombie apocalypse but powerless to stop it, knowing I won't live long enough to see the beginning of the movie, much less the part where the hero/es start to turn the tide.
Love this, Marc. And agreed, especially on the Ghiblification of the last few days. Regarding "practical guidance," I've found in working with different districts that finding the time to enter into that behemoth conversation is a huge challenge. Superintendents, principals, teachers—everyone knows it's an important tool to discuss and set of skills to develop, but there are so many initiatives and testing weeks and newly adopted curriculums to continue to explore. AI fits in, but that's the very point. It's one of an endless list of agenda items.
I didn’t see the original deleted comment, but I appreciate the inclusion of sources you cited for further reading. We’re in a such a new and uncharted time, reactionary feelings are going to be part of this and I appreciate your perspective and others’ while bringing these topics forward.
"That’s what happens when you unleash a technology on the world without a user guide" - sounds like most tech these days. Silicon Valley certainly didn't pause to consider the impact of smartphone and social media notifications on the destruction of our attention spans ... well, at least not until it was too late.
A number of studies have discussed AI's impact on human skills, I've included them below for you, but I often don't use academic sources in a newsletter format on Substack. I'm talking about my own views and my own experiences both in the classroom and working with faculty at other universities and k12 schools. Your tone is bizarrely combative and offers zero to the conversation, so I'm going to ask you kindly to move on.
Is it harmful or helpful? Examining the causes and consequences of generative AI usage among university students found the following: "our findings suggested that excessive use of ChatGPT can have harmful effects on students’ personal and academic outcomes. Specifically, those students who frequently used ChatGPT were more likely to engage in procrastination than those who rarely used ChatGPT. Similarly, students who frequently used ChatGPT also reported memory loss." https://educationaltechnologyjournal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s41239-024-00444-7
I teach high-school English to good kids. But the temptation is just too great for them—and they represent the public at large for whom bread and circuses suffice to guide daily choices. No amount of ethical preaching will work. Regulation (many different guises for this, like local LLM’s and training in how to use them) or a commitment to offline learning is the only way forward.
The potential societal impacts are terrifying. We already have filter bubbles, now we'll have bespoke personas - so much easier to get along with than real people. Forget fake news - fake your own news, and have it delivered by your favorite flavor of cartoon character! It is horrible to be living in the genesis of the Mad Max/Terminator/zombie apocalypse but powerless to stop it, knowing I won't live long enough to see the beginning of the movie, much less the part where the hero/es start to turn the tide.
Love this, Marc. And agreed, especially on the Ghiblification of the last few days. Regarding "practical guidance," I've found in working with different districts that finding the time to enter into that behemoth conversation is a huge challenge. Superintendents, principals, teachers—everyone knows it's an important tool to discuss and set of skills to develop, but there are so many initiatives and testing weeks and newly adopted curriculums to continue to explore. AI fits in, but that's the very point. It's one of an endless list of agenda items.
I didn’t see the original deleted comment, but I appreciate the inclusion of sources you cited for further reading. We’re in a such a new and uncharted time, reactionary feelings are going to be part of this and I appreciate your perspective and others’ while bringing these topics forward.
Engaging with AI is the way to go, but it's a heavy lift to get students to view it that way.
"That’s what happens when you unleash a technology on the world without a user guide" - sounds like most tech these days. Silicon Valley certainly didn't pause to consider the impact of smartphone and social media notifications on the destruction of our attention spans ... well, at least not until it was too late.
Rod,
A number of studies have discussed AI's impact on human skills, I've included them below for you, but I often don't use academic sources in a newsletter format on Substack. I'm talking about my own views and my own experiences both in the classroom and working with faculty at other universities and k12 schools. Your tone is bizarrely combative and offers zero to the conversation, so I'm going to ask you kindly to move on.
Wharton's research discussed AI assistance boosting learning, then leading to dramatic declines once it is removed: https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/without-guardrails-generative-ai-can-harm-education/
Even Microsoft put out a recent study on the impact of AI on diminishing critical thinking skills: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/lee_2025_ai_critical_thinking_survey.pdf
Is it harmful or helpful? Examining the causes and consequences of generative AI usage among university students found the following: "our findings suggested that excessive use of ChatGPT can have harmful effects on students’ personal and academic outcomes. Specifically, those students who frequently used ChatGPT were more likely to engage in procrastination than those who rarely used ChatGPT. Similarly, students who frequently used ChatGPT also reported memory loss." https://educationaltechnologyjournal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s41239-024-00444-7