Show Notes
Hosts Mike Elgan and Emily Forlini welcome guest Kevin Elgan—Kagi’s head of education, creator of Chatterbox (a smart speaker for kids that teaches AI literacy), and Mike’s son. They review the recent history of technology in education, the trouble with AI overviews, why ChatGPT misuse is rewriting K–12 learning, and the canceled Next Generation Technology High School in Manhattan. Is there any place for AI in schools? The episode reframes critical thinking in education and what great teaching really looks like.
Links Chatterbox Kagi NYC Cancels Plans for AI-Focused School, Upper West Side Schools The Untold Story Behind the Struggles of L.A. Unified’s iPad Program Gemini for Education “Sold a Story” podcast Lex Anthropic’s “Who’s in Charge?” paper NotebookLM Two-Sigma Tutoring: Separating Science Fiction from Science Fact WIRED’s “5 Levels” Jaron Lanier’s “There Is No A.I.” AI chatbots need ‘deception mode’ The Attachment Economy California STAR standardized testing
Follow Us Website: superintelligentpodcast.com Email: [email protected] Mike Elgan - About | Machine Society | Bluesky | Mastodon | Notes Emily Forlini - Website | PC Mag | Bluesky | X | TikTok
Chapters 00:00 Introduction to AI in Education 02:10 The Disconnect in AI and Education 05:16 Teachers’ Perspectives on Technology 08:10 The Role of AI in Schools 11:22 Current AI Tools in Education 14:29 The Importance of Critical Thinking 17:21 Future Scenarios for AI in Education 20:23 Evaluating AI Outputs 23:23 AI Literacy in Schools 33:36 The Future of Education: Rethinking Assessment Methods 35:33 Inspiration and Lifelong Learning in Education 37:21 The Role of AI in Environmental Education 39:59 Optimizing Education: The Role of AI and Friction 43:00 AI as a Tool for Learning: Balancing Speed and Understanding 46:05 Scaffolding Knowledge: Using AI to Simplify Complex Concepts 50:02 The Purpose of Education: Beyond Test Scores 53:47 AI’s Potential to Transform Education 56:17 The Illusion of Learning: Confidence vs. Knowledge 59:50 AI and Human Interaction: The Balance of Technology and Relationships
Disclosures We used a variety of AI chatbots via Kagi (Mike’s son and our producer, Kevin, works at Kagi) to 1) generate keywords from the transcript (most of which we used); 2) suggest topics to link to (some of which we used); and 3) write a first draft of the show summary paragraph (which we heavily edited). We recorded and edited the episode using Riverside and used Riverside’s “Magic Audio” (which boosts and normalizes the audio).
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