AI and a Middle Path

Two weeks ago, I was happy to be in Salt Lake City supporting and presenting at the FACTS Elevate Conference. We had over one thousand join us for several days of sessions, exhibitions, professional development, and conversations. I was able to sit in on several sessions on Artificial Intelligence and Education; along with presenting two of my own sessions.

After the second presentation (which focused on AI Literacy), one attendee came up and in the course of our conversation said that she appreciated the balance that I brought to the topic - not hyping but not catastrophizing either. This has stuck with me since that conversation - because I truly believe that is what education needs - a middle path.

AI Generated

First, a caveat, I think there's some sense that a truly autonomous, general intelligence AI might not be possible with current computing methods and inherent limitations (see Gary Marcus or Dwarkesh Patel's July 3 Podcast for more). At the same time, possible breakthroughs and growing "real world" data sets might mean that one day every student has their own Primer. This middle path therefore applies to the current moment.

And what is that moment? It's a moment where generative text can produce undergraduate work on almost any topic in existence with the proper prompting and research capabilities; but struggles to operate in the natural world or not "hallucinate." It's a moment where images, video, and sound increasingly cannot be trusted. And where the leaders (Zuckerberg and Altman) of these companies certainly cannot. It's a moment where the teacher profession is shrinking, economics and culture are in upheaval, and there is a growing realization of the mistakes of the past and their impact on our children.

It's a moment that calls for a sane approach. Not one that treats AI as a panacea for the world's educational, economic, cultural, environmental, and political problems. But instead acknowledges the "miracle" of generative words, text, video, and images at our fingertips for a few cents and the vast ramifications that has on the world. And especially how those affect the environment, creative class, intellectual property, and the job market.

It's a moment where we can acknowledge the opportunity for offloading some of teaching's burdens so that we can focus on the relationships and labor that drives our passion and joy. While also acknowledging the importance of knowing what and when to offload.

It's a moment that I try to address in my writing. In crafting this blog, I try to follow a pattern - Tuesdays are for AI use cases - because I believe having examples enables educators and leaders to grow off of them and incorporate them into their practice. Fridays tend to be for analysis and book reviews. Thus Tuesdays tend to promote the use of AI and Fridays tend to challenge the use of AI. Likewise, I spend a significant amount of time hearing from across the spectrum about what this technology can do and this space is for my processing.

This moment is a firm reminder that all technologies give and take. Fire offers light, heat, and safety; while causing damage and death. The printing press sparked an educational, cultural, and religious revolution upsetting political and theological systems around the world. The internet has connected us to knowledge and people around the world; while causing a population to become addicted to pornography and instant gratification. AI may save or doom the world; it's most likely to do both to a certain degree. Let's stick to the middle path and acknowledge the complexity here.