In This Week’s Episode, “Can We Teach AI Without Teaching Computer Science?” we dig into this timely question. With more students exploring AI majors and tools like ChatGPT reshaping how we learn, we look at how schools, colleges, and policymakers are rethinking both CS and AI education.

Before we get there, we cover a wide range of topics including: 

Ohio’s new model AI policy for K–12 schools, including student use, ethics, and third-party tools

A national policy guide for NCII (non-consensual intimate imagery) from the Center for Democracy and Technology

Grok AI under scrutiny for generating deepfake images of women and children (via The Guardian)

Finland’s preschool push for AI and media literacy, part of its national curriculum starting at age 3

Instagram’s authenticity crisis, as CEO Adam Mosseri warns about AI overload — while Meta's own bots deceive users

A free digital wellness resource: the Social Balance Curriculum from EdAdvance, now available to schools

Two Sides of a Coin

Study 1: AI’s “sycophantic” tone may reduce pro-social behavior and increase user dependence

Study 2: In a controlled trial, Therabot (AI therapy) matches human therapists for treating depression

An NYU professor builds an AI-powered oral exam for just 42 cents per student, using 11 Labs and LLMs for grading

Beneath the Surface

From The New York Times: Students are shifting from CS to AI-focused majors as job roles evolve

Jeffrey Hinton argues CS is still vital, it's more than just coding.

Jan LeCun says CS needs more rigorous math foundations to stay relevant

Bright Byte

A new AI model (AFLOC) can read medical images without expert labeling by pairing image recognition with text , a major breakthrough for small hospitals and faster diagnostics

Announcements

Celebrate our 100th episode: skills21.org/chatedu100

Learning They'll Love - Dr. Elizabeth Radday

ASCD: https://tinyurl.com/bde652nn 

Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/22t9hz77

Barnes and Noble: https://tinyurl.com/bdckf6zw

The Winter Micro-Credential starts soon. Join the six-week dive into AI literacy, pedagogy, assessment, and ethics. www.skills21.org/ai/micro 

EdAdvance is offering a Middle and High School Student AI Literacy course — email [email protected] to bring it to your district. ​​www.skills21.org/ai/learnai 

Skills21’s FREE social media literacy course? Check it out here - https://www.skills21.org/social-balance

This episode is sponsored by The National Center for Next Generation Manufacturing. https://www.nextgenmfg.org