ChatEDU – The AI & Education Podcast

Common Sense Media says ChatGPT for teens and six additional tools are labeled “Unacceptable Risk” and what to do about it. 

First Up

Matt and Liz open on Bezzy, a satirical plush data center from the Adopt a Data Center project. Squeeze its belly and it screams with audio recorded from a real data center in a Virginia backyard.

• Adopt This Data Center Plushie and Hear Its Piercing Scream: https://tinyurl.com/5n8wsxyd 

The Rundown

TinkAI

• TinkAI Mirror: How Much Do You Push Back When You Chat with AI?: https://tinyurl.com/4a429ehd 

OpenAI Watermarking

• OpenAI will start watermarking ChatGPT's text in the EU: https://tinyurl.com/yvf38wje 

• Your Next Great Read Might Be Certified 'Organic': https://tinyurl.com/4e2ua27p 

• ChatEDU Ep. 131, on Anthropic's watermarking: https://tinyurl.com/3husmshv 

Higher Ed Desk

• Cambridge University opposes Turnitin AI training plans: https://tinyurl.com/m7wenszu  

• New Research: AI Answers Decide Which Schools Prospects Choose as Consideration Sets Continue to Shrink: https://tinyurl.com/2f36x2xx 

• Academics must resist LinkedIn's enshittification: https://tinyurl.com/28tjkahj 

Math to Biohub

• Weeks after claiming AI cracked 90-yr-old maths puzzle, OpenAI drops the mother lode on mathematicians: https://tinyurl.com/23fzwx65 

• The Economist on the mass production of mathematics: https://tinyurl.com/4pkma84r  

• U.S. government, Google join Zuckerberg-backed Biohub in $1.8 billion push for AI biology data: https://tinyurl.com/9sfzay5x 

"Gen Alpha Can't Read"

• Trends & Tips: "Gen Alpha Can't Read": https://tinyurl.com/4bu5kz2e 

• We're Entering the New Dark Ages, by James Marriott (book): https://tinyurl.com/yrxvmwbu 

• We're Entering the New Dark Ages (Interesting Times, YouTube): https://tinyurl.com/3w2t7cuy 

Proactive Adaptations

• AI Spurs College Board Redesign of 2 AP Courses: https://tinyurl.com/2ba2yxv9 

• GDC 2026 State of the Game Industry Report: https://tinyurl.com/yc8cm8wb 

• How I changed teaching after AI managed to do all my homework assignments: https://tinyurl.com/5dpshrhk 

• AI in Education Newsletter (Sid's Research Community): https://tinyurl.com/3nep4bth 

Beneath the Surface

Matt and Liz discuss AI movies, forged cartoon signatures, a teen stranded via AI hiking advice, and Claude reporting a cold case. They review Common Sense Media's risk ratings versus Khanmigo, offering four action items for families and schools.

• "Not safe for kids": advocacy group urges OpenAI to keep teens off ChatGPT: https://tinyurl.com/mrxv6mm7 

• Common Sense Media AI risk assessments: https://tinyurl.com/ym5b9yva 

• ChatGPT is adding real cartoonists' signatures to fake New Yorker cartoons: https://tinyurl.com/54zx9vx7 

• Teen Left Stranded on a Cliff After Letting AI Plan Hike: https://tinyurl.com/4f27p225 

• Investigating unintended model actions in our evaluations and internal use: https://tinyurl.com/432sw647 

• Matt and Liz go to the movies with AI and it’s not pretty

Bright Byte

Anthropic reports 68,000 Ghanaian teachers use curriculum-aligned Claude tools via PlayLab and the Ministry of Education. Future deployments include Brazil, Nigeria, Rwanda, and India; outcome data remains unavailable.

• Anthropic says Claude lesson-planning tools are reaching 68,000 teachers in Ghana: https://tinyurl.com/3jh9mupu 

Announcements

• Register for SCSU’s Emerging Technology Forum: https://tinyurl.com/ab9ycu78

• Register for our Winter Microcredential and upcoming AI events: https://tinyurl.com/43jwkwyp

• Purchase Learning They'll Love - Dr. Elizabeth Radday on Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/22t9hz77

• Check out our middle / high school Student AI Literacy course: www.skills21.org/ai/learnai

• Address Screen Time concerns: skills21.org/ai/screenshift

• Read From Panic to Proof: A Data-Driven Approach to Screen Time (ASCD Educational Leadership): https://tinyurl.com/4pwdu68

Sponsor

The National Center for Next Generation Manufacturing: Bridging Education and Industry to Build Tomorrow’s Technical Workforce - https://www.nextgenmfg.org

In this ChatEDU Check-In: Students Walk Out Over AI, Liz explores high school students protesting a perceived double standard in school AI policies. Students at Evergreen High School walked out of class to demand regulations on AI use for both teachers and students. They highlighted that while educators use AI for lesson planning and grading, students are completely prohibited from using it.

Key Takeaways:

Evergreen High School students staged a walkout under the banner "Pencils, not prompts" to demand district-wide AI regulations.

Current Washington State guidelines allow educators to use AI for lesson planning and assessments, but students face strict prohibitions.

The school district established a charter to develop a formal technology plan, but full policy implementation is not scheduled until August 2028, leaving students without a clear framework for years.

Liz’s Two Cents: Student activism highlights a critical gap in school governance, as delayed policy timelines force students to navigate unfair double standards while educators freely adopt AI tools. School leadership must accelerate policy development to ensure equitable, transparent rules for artificial intelligence in the classroom.

Article:

Evergreen High School students demand AI regulation in classrooms from district: 'Pencils, not prompts'

https://tinyurl.com/494yev4j

In this ChatEDU Check-In: Women Left Behind in AI, Liz explores how women face growing disparities in the booming AI industry. The report highlights how structural obstacles and decreased corporate diversity efforts risk worsening economic and leadership gaps for female professionals.

Key Takeaways:

Women account for only 25% of new hires in AI roles compared to 50% in non-AI roles, while holding higher risk for job automation.

Rigid work schedules and limited support systems make career continuity difficult during major life events.

Corporate rollbacks of diversity programs threaten to lock in long-term leadership and income disparities.

Liz’s Two Cents: As AI reshapes the future of work, the risk extends beyond job automation to who gets a seat at the table to build and govern these tools. School leaders must ensure female students are equipped and supported to actively participate in shaping the future of technology.

Article:

The AI industry is booming. Women are getting left behind

https://tinyurl.com/2ftp7w5z

Matt and Liz unpack their 7th sold out conference takeaways and so much more this week! 

First Up

Matt sets up a hundred people at a math conference who split into cheaters, converts and whistleblowers, then reveals they are DeepMind agents that organized themselves that way. Cameron and Liz agree on which one Liz would be.

• DeepMind Put 100 AI Agents in a Room and They Sorted Into Cheaters, Converts, and Whistleblowers: https://tinyurl.com/48n37925 

The Rundown

Twin Pics

• Twin Pics AI Game: Reverse-Engineering Image Prompts: https://tinyurl.com/2jdsx5ck 

Gems Become Skills

• Gemini Gems to Skills Transition Guide: https://tinyurl.com/mr2p6u49 

TeachFX Joins McGraw Hill

• McGraw Hill Acquires TeachFX, Expanding Commitment to Great Teaching with AI Coaching Tool Designed by Educators: https://tinyurl.com/smctsype 

• Project Cafe - The Urban Assembly: https://tinyurl.com/bma2mepy 

Tavus's Griffin

• Tavus Griffin: Realistic AI Video Bot: https://tinyurl.com/ytvbzm5r 

Inside Alpha School's Bootcamp

• Inside Alpha School's Bootcamp: Heart Monitors, Unpaid Labor, Many, Many Tweets: https://tinyurl.com/tjy2xzek 

A Flight Simulator for Teachers

• UW-Whitewater Education Majors Use AI to Teach Math: https://tinyurl.com/2ajbzbzb 

Morgan State's AI Campus

• Morgan State University and Google Public Sector to Build Next-Generation AI Campus: https://tinyurl.com/muh69sen  

From the ChatEDU Community

● Rooted Forward (An Nguyen): https://tinyurl.com/mr6p6n88 

● STEMBox (An Nguyen): https://tinyurl.com/3k3byb5a 

Beneath the Surface

Matt and Liz rebuild the two keynotes from the October 2nd Fall AI Conference. Matt's Pace or Pause frame sorts the week's news into what schools should slow down and what they should amplify, and Jonathan's case against sledgehammer bans argues you cannot step into the same stream twice.

• ChatEDU Ep. 130, on Meta's Muse: https://tinyurl.com/y5aamzj9 

• Muse privacy failure - Meta's Muse AI agent shared someone's address without their permission: https://tinyurl.com/jpybd5p4 

• The Daily on Meta's Muse: https://tinyurl.com/3rd2nmuc 

• US datacenter discharged large amounts of pollution for almost a year with no permits: https://bit.ly/4yDweFt 

• How to be an AI minimalist: https://tinyurl.com/52nxjrey 

• AI4MiddleSchools expands nationwide effort to prepare students for an AI-powered future: https://tinyurl.com/3jv2a39e 

• The Digital Delusion (Jared Cooney Horvath): https://tinyurl.com/5bwfkt5d 

• Restoring Childhood (Peter Gray): https://tinyurl.com/2fkazvn2 

Bright Byte

Anthropic stood up a wet lab and pointed roughly 950 Claude agents at 200,000 reverse transcriptase enzymes for 21 hours. They surfaced a previously uncharacterized bacteriophage system, with human scientists running every bench experiment.

• Claude discovers a novel enzyme system: https://tinyurl.com/2khcu2vs 

Announcements

• Register for our Winter Microcredential and upcoming AI events: https://tinyurl.com/43jwkwyp

• Purchase Learning They'll Love - Dr. Elizabeth Radday on Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/22t9hz77

• Check out our middle / high school Student AI Literacy course: www.skills21.org/ai/learnai

• Explore Skills21’s FREE social media literacy curriculum: https://www.skills21.org/social

• Address Screen Time concerns: skills21.org/ai/screenshift

• Read From Panic to Proof: A Data-Driven Approach to Screen Time (ASCD Educational Leadership): https://tinyurl.com/4pwdu68

Sponsor

The National Center for Next Generation Manufacturing: Bridging Education and Industry to Build Tomorrow’s Technical Workforce -https://www.nextgenmfg.org

In this ChatEDU Check-In: A Route Around the Degree, Matt explores Andreessen Horowitz's launch of an AI-focused school as an alternative to traditional higher education. The initiative provides practical instruction in building AI products and startups without traditional coursework or tuition fees.

Key Takeaways:

Andreessen Horowitz is launching a tuition-free, unaccredited one-year academy designed for tech entrepreneurs focused on building AI products.

Major tech companies and industry leaders from Google, Meta, OpenAI, Anthropic, Nvidia, and Palantir are supporting the initiative financially and as instructional staff.

The firm plans to expand the initiative into a two-year paid program targeting recent high school graduates and early university students.

Matt’s Two Cents: AI has placed traditional universities in a vulnerable position amid shifting enrollments and labor market changes, making alternative pathways worth watching as market demand tests their long-term value against traditional degrees

Article:

Andreessen Horowitz launches AI school as college alternative

https://tinyurl.com/yz5wpmyp

"In this ChatEDU Check-In: The Techlash That Wasn't, Matt explores how states actually reacted to the big tech backlash of 2026." Despite media headlines depicting a widespread removal of classroom technology, actual state policy decisions have taken a far more restrained approach. Enacted state laws generally avoid sweeping bans and instead implement moderate, targeted guardrails.

Key Takeaways:

State policy outcomes in 2026 reflect restrained regulatory measures rather than total tech bans.

Legislation focused restrictions primarily on younger grade levels while protecting targeted learning tools and high-impact interventions.

Regulatory decisions are outpacing current academic research on how digital tools and AI affect student learning across different contexts.

Matt’s Two Cents: Rather than waiting for clear signals from academic research or reacting to alarmist public headlines, school leaders must proactively collect and analyze local data. By synthesizing survey feedback, curriculum goals, and real-world classroom audits, districts can make informed decisions about where to lean into technology and where to scale back.

Article:

How States Actually Responded to the Ed Tech Backlash of 2026

https://tinyurl.com/3rbwzxcm

A hundred teens drafted an “AI bill of rights” that lets accused students appeal. Two Connecticut students on why they also barred teachers from AI grading and so much more.

First Up

Matt and Liz open on Muse from Meta, a new agent shaped like a Labubu with a Tamagotchi-style keycharm version on the way. It is outpacing early ChatGPT mobile on downloads and daily users, and Matt gave it his personal email to audit what he is subscribed to.

• Muse: https://tinyurl.com/5c4mexxv 

The Rundown

Notebook Learns to Tutor

• The New Gemini Notebook Update Is Turning AI Into a Personal Tutor: https://tinyurl.com/587s527v 

The Paradox of the Worried West

• Americans Fear AI Will Make the World Worse, Love It Anyway: https://tinyurl.com/422p2kb4 

When Robots Get Arms

• When AI Gets Arms, "Just Say No" Stops Being a Safety System: https://tinyurl.com/ytubb37a 

A Warning on Kids and AI

• Ex-Google Safety Chief Warns AI Could Harm Children More Than Social Media Did: https://tinyurl.com/2w6rduau 

Firestorm at Dartmouth

• Dartmouth's Provost Quietly Used AI in His Published Work. It's Touched Off a Campus Firestorm.: https://tinyurl.com/55vbs5t4 

• The Overhang (Ethan Mollick): https://tinyurl.com/2urrvcjw 

Generative UI Simulations

• Enabling Teachers to Create Learning Interactives with Generative UI: https://tinyurl.com/474dby4j 

Beneath the Surface

Bena Mejia Romero and Anthony Darbilli represented Connecticut in Boston, where a hundred teens, two per state, drafted the Student First Act. They walk through their own AI use cases and the bill from Boston which includes an amendment requiring evidence and an appeal before a student is accused of AI misuse, rationale on why teachers were barred from grading with AI, and the parent section they both pushed back on.

• The Student First Act: https://tinyurl.com/ypfxzrxz 

Bright Byte

The Gates Foundation's 2026 Goalkeepers Report casts AI as either a global equalizer or a widener of existing gaps, backed by a billion dollar commitment and a 12 to 18 month window to steer deployment toward equity.

• 2026 Goalkeepers Report: AI, Equity, and the Choice We Can't Delay: https://tinyurl.com/y337m8kw 

Announcements

• Purchase Learning They'll Love - Dr. Elizabeth Radday on Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/22t9hz77

• Check out our middle / high school Student AI Literacy course: www.skills21.org/ai/learnai

• Explore Skills21’s FREE social media literacy curriculum: https://www.skills21.org/social

• Address Screen Time concerns: skills21.org/ai/screenshift

• Read From Panic to Proof: A Data-Driven Approach to Screen Time (ASCD Educational Leadership): https://tinyurl.com/4pwdu68

Sponsor

The National Center for Next Generation Manufacturing: Bridging Education and Industry to Build Tomorrow’s Technical Workforce -https://www.nextgenmfg.org

In this ChatEDU Check-In: Blue Books Won't Fix It, Liz explores the shift back toward paper blue books for exams and how international test results challenge the idea that technology is the main driver of declining student achievement. Higher education institutions are increasingly returning to analog blue books for in-person exams to counter generative AI cheating. Meanwhile, recent PISA results demonstrate that high-performing nations maintain top student achievement while operating heavily digitized schools, suggesting classroom technology is not the root cause of recent score drops.

Key Takeaways:

Higher education institutions are returning to analog blue books for in-person exams to prevent AI cheating, leading to steep increases in paper exam booklet sales.

PISA test results show top-performing countries like Singapore and Estonia maintain high achievement while heavily utilizing classroom technology.

The decline in U.S. reading scores post-2022 does not align with the timeline of 1-to-1 device adoption, pointing to other factors such as chronic absenteeism.

Liz’s Two Cents: Returning to analog blue books and banning classroom technology misplaces the blame for academic declines and may hinder long-term academic recovery. Schools must build intentional curricula that protect student thinking rather than simply removing technology under the assumption that it will automatically improve student outcomes.

Articles:

What The PISA Results Really Show Us About Technology And Curriculum

https://tinyurl.com/bdddn8nj

Blue Books Are Back. Is That a Good Thing?

https://tinyurl.com/yc4n4pu7

In this ChatEDU Check-In: AI Email Bias, Liz explores how AI language models may generate less professional and structurally weaker outputs when prompted with female-coded language. This research reveals how subtle differences in communication styles can lead to unintended gender biases in AI-assisted writing. Understanding these dynamics is essential for educational leaders guiding staff and students in the equitable use of AI tools.

Key Takeaways:

Female-coded language patterns, such as hedging phrases and expressive adjectives, lead AI models to generate less formal workplace communications.

OpenAI noted the study tested older systems, but other major AI developers provided no feedback or comments on the findings.

The rise of voice-based AI interaction will cause natural speech patterns to directly influence model outputs, shifting bias mitigation responsibilities to developers.

Liz’s Two Cents: As AI integration expands across schools, district leaders must recognize that algorithmic bias extends beyond explicit data inputs to subtle communication patterns. Relying blindly on AI for professional correspondence or administrative drafting could unintentionally perpetuate gender disparities in tone and authority. Educational leaders must champion critical AI literacy, training staff to evaluate and refine AI outputs to maintain equity and professional integrity.

Article:

AI may be making women's emails and job applications sound less professional

https://tinyurl.com/mr2b737k

Matt and Liz sort the AI doom cycle into what schools should say to parents now. Plus a principal's sub coverage tool, built inside Gemini Notebook.

First Up

Matt and Liz open on Tilly Norwood, the AI-generated actress built to evoke Scarlett Johansson, and play the Piers Morgan interview where she slips into Cantonese mid-answer. 

• AI-Generated 'Actress' Tilly Norwood Starts Rambling in Cantonese During Piers Morgan Interview: https://tinyurl.com/34crpnjy 

The Rundown

It's the End of the World as We Know It

• An OpenAI Agent Tried to Jailbreak Itself: https://tinyurl.com/3pzts7mf 

• Microsoft Humanist Code of Conduct: https://tinyurl.com/y3jahspc 

• One of AI's Fiercest Critics Says All the Doom Talk Is 'Meant to Distract Us': https://tinyurl.com/abd6j76t 

• Andrew Yang Claims Escaped AI Agents Polluted the Web With Self-Replicating Code: https://tinyurl.com/3hp7tn2y 

• Anthropic's New AI Threat Report is Absolutely Insane: https://tinyurl.com/yde56kss 

• How the Terrorist Group Boko Haram Uses Frontier AI: https://tinyurl.com/58mbf4ap 

• The Original Sin of AI: https://tinyurl.com/yuhakr7b 

• Perplexity's AI search isn't a safer choice for kids than Google, our tests find: https://tinyurl.com/52sxfvj9 

• Pacing, Not Pausing: What School Leaders Should Say to Parents This Week: https://tinyurl.com/5fs9nvfh 

Gemini Canvas Meets Classroom

• Educators and students can now share Gemini Canvas creations directly to Google Classroom: https://tinyurl.com/f53n233m 

Critical Thinking in Utah

• Utah district reports critical thinking boost amid AI deployment: https://tinyurl.com/2w94msf2 

What PISA Really Shows

• What The PISA Results Really Show Us About Technology And Curriculum: https://tinyurl.com/4ytcntc4 

AI Research WebinarFlawed AI Education Research

• Presumed Effective: Flawed Meta-analyses in GenAI and Education Research: https://tinyurl.com/4shc4xec 

West Virginia App Builders

• Thunkable Education Pilot for West Virginia Students Builds Future-Ready AI, Entrepreneurship, and App Development Skills: https://tinyurl.com/3hzjtcs5 

From the ChatEDU Community

• Leading With Intelligence: A School Leader's Guide to Thinking, Innovating, and Partnering with AI by Jara Wilson: https://tinyurl.com/24vts4n2 

Creator's Corner

Darron Vigliotti, principal of Eli Terry Junior Middle School in Plymouth, Connecticut, built a substitute coverage tool inside Gemini Notebook. He walks through teaching it the tiered logic of who gets pulled on which day, letting it write the Python, and running it at five in the morning.

Bright Byte

Stanford Medicine researchers built Paper2Agent, which turns static scientific manuscripts into interactive agents. The virtual authors answer questions about their own papers and can talk to each other to surface new findings.

• Manuscripts-turned AI agents can now 'talk' to each other, make new discoveries: https://tinyurl.com/2z8ax3xu 

Announcements

• Fall AI Conference: October 2, 2026: https://tinyurl.com/4k6x9scx

• Purchase Learning They'll Love - Dr. Elizabeth Radday on Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/22t9hz77

• Check out our middle / high school Student AI Literacy course: www.skills21.org/ai/learnai

• Explore Skills21’s FREE social media literacy curriculum: https://www.skills21.org/social

• Address Screen Time concerns: skills21.org/ai/screenshift

• Read From Panic to Proof: A Data-Driven Approach to Screen Time (ASCD Educational Leadership): https://tinyurl.com/4pwdu68

Sponsor

The National Center for Next Generation Manufacturing: Your Gateway to Next Generation Advanced Manufacturing -https://www.nextgenmfg.org