Designing Schools

This episode explores the overwhelming pace of AI advancements and the anxiety it creates, arguing that the real solution isn’t chasing every new tool but building intentional systems. Through stories from educators and students, Dr. Sabba highlights the growing gap between how AI is used in schools versus the real world—and why designing thoughtful frameworks for learning is more critical than ever.

Timestamps

00:00 – AI Overload & The Stress Response

• OpenAI’s new agent features spark widespread panic and highlight the emotional toll of constant tech updates.

03:00 – Systems Over Tools

• Why reacting to every AI update is unsustainable—and how having a system changes everything.

05:30 – A Student’s AI Dilemma

• Joey’s story reveals confusion around ethical AI use and the lack of clear guidance in education.

10:00 – Schools vs. Reality

• Educators revert to paper-based methods while the workforce accelerates toward AI fluency.

12:00 – Beneficial vs. Detrimental AI Use

• New research introduces “cognitive offloading” and how AI can either support or weaken thinking.

Resources Mentioned

• NYT - Dana Goldstein - How AI Killed Student Writing and Revived It
• Medium - Joey and Devon - AI Literacy is the New Digital Divide
• CNBC & Handshake — Entry-level jobs calling for AI skills nearly doubled from a year ago, says report
• UTS Cognitive Offloading - Artificial intelligence, cognitive offloading and implications for education
• RAND - More Students Use AI for Homework, and More Believe It Harms Critical Thinking
• OpenAI Workspace Agents - Introducing workspace agents in ChatGPT
• Open app - Open: Nervous System Reset

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This episode unpacks the recurring cycle of adopting, blaming, and retreating from new technologies in education—highlighted by LAUSD’s recent screen restrictions. Dr. Sabba Quidwai argues that the real issue isn’t technology itself, but the failure to redesign learning experiences and build systems that empower educators and students. From classrooms to workplaces, the message is clear: without agency and intentional design, new tools only reinforce old problems.

Timestamps

00:00 – LAUSD’s Screen Ban Announcement

• A major policy shift sparks debate: banning screens for young learners and limiting usage for others.

00:02 – The Real Problem Isn’t the Technology

• Historical pattern: adopt → disappoint → blame → remove. The issue lies in task design, not devices.

00:05 – A Personal Story of Transformation with Tech

• How reimagining a task—not just using a tool—changed teaching practice and career trajectory.

00:10 – The Digital Use Divide Explained

• Equal access doesn’t mean equal learning; how students use technology determines outcomes.

00:16 – AI in the Workplace: Same Mistake, New Context

• Research shows organizations succeed with AI only when they rethink workflows, not just adopt tools.

00:23 – From Literacy to Agency

• Why teaching tools isn’t enough—true impact comes from empowering people to use them meaningfully.

Resources Mentioned

• LAUSD Screen Time Policy Details — EdSource
• Reese Witherspoon Confronts AI Backlash — Variety
• Meta Keystroke Tracking — TechCrunch
• Attewell — The First and Second Digital Divides (ERIC)
• Employers Struggle to Find Graduates with AI Skills — Higher Ed Dive
• Mapping AI into Production — INSEAD/Harvard (SSRN)

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In this episode, Dr. Sabba Quidwai challenges the dominant narrative that AI is eroding students’ ability to think, arguing instead that the real issue is a lack of human agency in how technology is used. Drawing on new research, workplace trends, and classroom insights, she reveals how students and workers alike are struggling not with AI itself, but with systems that fail to empower them. The episode offers a powerful reframe—and practical strategies—for designing learning and work environments that prioritize agency, empathy, and intentional AI use.

Timestamps

[00:00:00] The Cognitive Offloading Debate Begins

• Reflections from education conferences and the growing concern that students are “outsourcing” their thinking.

[00:03:00] It’s Not a Thinking Problem—It’s an Agency Problem

• Why disengagement predates AI and what research reveals about student experience.

[00:05:00] The AI Frontier Is Moving Faster Than We Realize

• Anthropic’s unreleased model and what it signals about the future students are entering.

[00:10:00] Gen Z’s Emotional Reality with AI

• New data shows rising anxiety, anger, and lack of control despite widespread usage.

[00:14:00] The Classroom Insight That Changes Everything

• Students aren’t cheating—they’re using AI for feedback, but without the framework to evaluate it.

[00:18:00] When Agency Is Missing, People Push Back

• Why 44% of Gen Z workers are actively sabotaging AI in the workplace.

[00:26:00] Five Shifts to Move from Compliance to Agency

• Practical strategies for educators, leaders, and parents to redesign AI integration.

Resources Mentioned

• Lumina/Gallup Gen Z AI Sentiment Report
• Gen Z Workers Sabotaging AI Rollouts
• Anthropic Claude Mythos - Project Glasswing
• Ryan Roslansky & Aneesh Raman - Open to Work: How to Get Ahead in the Age of AI

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🎓 Prepare Your Students for an AI Future: Free Course – AI Skills for College and Career to equip your school community with future-ready skills.

For questions, email: [email protected]

This episode explores the tension between fear and opportunity in the age of AI, drawing parallels from history to show that technological disruption is not new—but our response to it matters more than ever. Through real-world examples from Oracle, Stanford research, and student behavior, the conversation highlights a critical truth: success with AI depends less on the technology itself and more on how we invest in people, redesign systems, and build human agency.

Timestamps

00:00 – A Story from 1920s Madrid

• A powerful reflection on telephone operators and how past generations faced automation—reminding us that technology evolves, but human value endures.

05:00 – Oracle’s Layoffs & Leadership Failure

• A case study of what happens when organizations prioritize infrastructure over people, including the controversial 6:00 AM layoff emails.

07:30 – What Successful AI Adoption Actually Looks Like

• Insights from Stanford’s Enterprise AI Playbook reveal that the biggest challenges aren’t technical—they’re human.

12:30 – Students, AI, and the Critical Thinking Crisis

• New data shows students are using AI more while simultaneously believing it harms their thinking—highlighting a gap in guidance and frameworks.

16:00 – Building Agency: The Real Competitive Advantage

• Examples from LinkedIn and KPMG demonstrate how organizations are investing in human skills, experimentation, and AI fluency.

Resources Mentioned

• Hadiya Quidwai, "They Called It Automation Too," Substack

• Jensen Huang on the Lex Fridman Podcast (#494) | April 2026
• Pereira, Graylin & Brynjolfsson, "The Enterprise AI Playbook: Lessons from 51 Successful Deployments," Stanford Digital Economy Lab, April 2026
• Schwartz & Diliberti, "More Students Use AI for Homework, and More Believe It Harms Critical Thinking," RAND Corporation, 2026
• Hanson & Shroff, "AI Adoption Isn't the Hard Part, It's Building Employee Agency," Fortune, 2026

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In this episode, Dr. Sabba Quidwai explores why the biggest barrier to effective AI adoption isn’t the technology—it’s the lack of systems and mindset. Drawing parallels to the iPad rollout in education, she explains how history is repeating itself and why a “mobile mindset” is essential for success in an AI-driven world. The episode challenges listeners to shift from tool usage to intentional design in order to unlock real transformation.

Timestamps:

00:03:00 – The rise of “AI slop” and why generic outputs are getting worse, not better

00:08:00 – AGI debate and what it actually means for everyday professionals

00:11:00 – AI agents that can control your computer and why systems matter more than ever

00:19:00 – The 2014 iPad story and the origin of the “mobile mindset”

00:25:00 – Research reveals why experienced AI users outperform beginners

Resources Mentioned:

• Free Masterclass: From AI Slop to AI Systems - Join Us Live
• Anthropic Economic Index: Learning Curves Report
• Lex Friedman Interviews Jensen Huang
• Instructure Canvas Introduces AI Agents
• USC - Students Share Experience with iPads

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🤝 Partner with Us: Join the AI Power Circle and collaborate with forward-thinking educators building the future with AI.

📘 Get the Book: Designing Schools — a practical blueprint to transform your campus with creativity, leadership, and innovation.

🎓 Prepare Your Students for an AI Future: Free Course – AI Skills for College and Career to equip your school community with future-ready skills.

For questions, email: [email protected]

This episode explores the accelerating pace of AI and the growing gap between those building with it and those still trying to regulate it. Through real-world incidents at Meta and insights from Morgan Stanley and Harvard Business Review, the episode reveals how outdated habits and shallow strategies are leaving organizations unprepared. The message is clear: success with AI requires deep understanding, intentional design, and a shift from compliance to capability-building.

Timestamps

[00:00:00] – The Hidden Risk of Not Understanding AI

• Why lacking technical fluency creates vulnerability—and how even simple interactions with AI can expose it.

[00:02:00] – AI Is Accelerating Faster Than Expected

• Morgan Stanley’s warning and GPT advancements signal a major leap in capability across industries.

[00:05:30] – Meta’s AI Failures: A Warning to Everyone

• Two major incidents reveal how even top AI experts struggle to control agent behavior and prevent data leaks.

[00:10:00] – The “Last Mile Problem” in AI Adoption

• Harvard research shows organizations are stuck—not because of technology, but due to people, processes, and identity.

[00:14:00] – Three Habits Holding Us Back from AI Readiness

• The traffic light model, “act like an expert” prompting, and tool-based strategies are limiting real progress.

Resources Mentioned

• Morgan Stanley Research Report
• Meta AI agent causes large sensitive data leak to employees
• The 'Last Mile' Problem Slowing AI Transformation
• Anthropic Research, 2026: What 81,000 People Want from AI
• Dr. Mike Perkins, LinkedIn post on the AI Assessment Scale remix

🤝 Partner with Us: Join the AI Power Circle and collaborate with forward-thinking educators building the future with AI.

📘 Get the Book: Designing Schools — a practical blueprint to transform your campus with creativity, leadership, and innovation.

🎓 Prepare Your Students for an AI Future: Free Course – AI Skills for College and Career to equip your school community with future-ready skills.

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For questions, email: [email protected]

In this episode, Dr. Sabba Quidwai explores a growing divide in the AI era—one that goes beyond access or basic use of technology. Drawing from new research reports and a personal story of learning to use AI tools beyond the chat interface, she introduces the idea of an “agentic divide,” where the real gap lies in who understands what’s possible with AI and who doesn’t. The conversation challenges educators, parents, and policymakers to move beyond bans and toward preparing young people with the mindset, vocabulary, and agency needed to thrive alongside AI.

Timestamps

00:00 – The Moment of Fear in Front of a Terminal

• Dr. Quidwai shares a personal story about staring at a blank terminal window for two months, revealing the emotional barrier many people feel when confronting new AI technologies.

03:00 – What the Latest Research Says About Teens and AI

• Insights from Pew Research show that more than half of teens are already using AI chatbots for schoolwork, often without guidance from adults.

07:00 – Families Are Split on AI in Education

• Findings from Common Sense Media reveal a growing divide between parents and students, with young people seeing AI as innovative while many parents view it as unethical in schoolwork.

11:00 – AI and the Changing Job Market

• An Anthropic report highlights how AI is reshaping the labor market, especially impacting entry-level jobs while increasing productivity among experienced professionals.

18:00 – The “Agentic Divide” and Why It Matters

• Dr. Quidwai introduces a new framework for understanding the AI gap—not just access or usage, but awareness of what AI can actually enable.

Resources Mentioned

• Pew Research Center — How Teens Use and View AI 
• Common Sense Media — The Dawn of the AI Era: Teens, Parents, and the Adoption of Generative AI at Home and School
• Anthropic — Labor Market Impacts of AI: A New Measure and Early Evidence 
• New York Times — Coding After Coders: The End of Computer Programming as We Know It

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🤝 Partner with Us: ⁠⁠⁠J⁠⁠oin the AI Power Circle⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and collaborate with forward-thinking educators building the future with AI.

📘 Get the Book: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Designing Schools⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ — a practical blueprint to transform your campus with creativity, leadership, and innovation.

🎓 Prepare Your Students for an AI Future: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Link to new student experience⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

For questions, email: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠

This episode explores three major AI developments—from massive tech layoffs to Pentagon AI contracts—and asks a critical question: Who has agency in an AI-driven world? Dr. Sabba Quidwai reframes the conversation from “AI vs. humans” to a new model of collaboration where success depends on how well people can work with and direct AI systems. The episode challenges educators and leaders to rethink skill development for a future where humans orchestrate intelligent tools rather than compete against them. 

Timestamps

00:00 — A 4,000-Person Layoff That Shocked the Tech World

• Jack Dorsey’s company Block cuts 40% of its workforce despite record profits, citing AI-driven productivity and smaller, highly skilled teams.

00:03 — What “Agency” Means to Students and Educators

• A workshop with students, teachers, and administrators reveals how people still define agency as purely human decision-making—without considering AI collaborators.

00:08 — The Rise of AI-Powered Workplaces

• Companies like Shopify, Salesforce, and Amazon begin restructuring teams around AI tools, signaling a major shift in how organizations measure talent and productivity.

00:19 — The Missing Piece in Today’s Skills Frameworks

• A new Carnegie report on collaboration, communication, and critical thinking overlooks a key reality: many of these skills now involve interacting with AI agents.

00:28 — AI Ethics and the Pentagon: Anthropic vs. OpenAI

• A conflict over military AI use highlights how human values and judgment will shape how powerful AI systems are deployed.

Resources Mentioned

• Carnegie Skills Progression
• Anthropic and Department of War Updates
• OpenAI Agreement with Department of War
  

Explore More from Designing Schools

🤝 Partner with Us: ⁠⁠⁠J⁠⁠oin the AI Power Circle⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and collaborate with forward-thinking educators building the future with AI.

📘 Get the Book: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Designing Schools⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ — a practical blueprint to transform your campus with creativity, leadership, and innovation.

🎓 Prepare Your Students for an AI Future: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Link to new student experience⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

For questions, email: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠

AI is no longer a question of “if” but “who is doing it well.” In this episode, Dr. Sabba Quidwai explores the growing divide between power users and passive users, why direction—not technology—is the defining skill of 2026, and how design thinking, the HIRE framework, and the SPARK method can help you build high-performing human + AI teams. The future belongs to those who can make their skills legible, lead with clarity, and design their response to change instead of reacting to it.

Timestamps

[00:00] The Foundation: Why Design Thinking Still Wins

• What makes great teams thrive—curiosity, clarity, iteration—and why those same principles now apply to human + AI collaboration.

[00:04] The Productivity Surge & The Power User Divide

• New research reveals rising productivity, shrinking payrolls, and the growing gap between those who direct AI with precision and those who use it passively.

[00:08] The Three Phases of AI at Work

• From personal AI assistants to human-agent teams to fully agent-operated workflows—why we’ve entered Phase Three faster than expected.

[00:13] Making Skills Legible in the Agent Era

• Why vague skills like “communication” aren’t enough—and how defining the sequence, standards, and why behind your work creates an edge.

[00:24] The HIRE & SPARK Frameworks + The 30-Day Challenge

• A practical roadmap for onboarding AI agents, building domain-specific workflows, and launching a meaningful project that compounds your value.

Resources Mentioned

• Zillow Uses NotebookLM
• The AI Productivity Takeoff is Finally Real
• Interview with Boris Cherny - Creator and Head of Claude Code
• The End of the Office By Andrew Yang

Explore More from Designing Schools

🤝 Partner with Us: ⁠⁠J⁠⁠oin the AI Power Circle⁠⁠⁠⁠ and collaborate with forward-thinking educators building the future with AI.

📘 Get the Book: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Designing Schools⁠⁠⁠⁠ — a practical blueprint to transform your campus with creativity, leadership, and innovation.

🎓 Prepare Your Students for an AI Future: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Link to new student experience⁠⁠⁠⁠

For questions, email: ⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠

This week feels like a turning point. From AI models helping build themselves to groundbreaking research on metacognition in schools and adaptive capacity in the workforce, the message is clear: AI isn’t just changing tasks, it’s reshaping purpose. The real question isn’t whether AI will disrupt work and learning, but whether we will intentionally design the future alongside it.

Timestamps

[00:00] – Move 37 & The Honest Version of AIThe story of AlphaGo’s legendary “Move 37” sets the stage for Matt Schumer’s viral article explaining how far AI has truly advanced—and why most people underestimate it.

[00:17] – Teaching Kids to Think (Nord Anglia + Boston College Study)A two-year global study shows significant growth in critical thinking, curiosity, and compassion when students are explicitly taught metacognition through visible thinking routines.

[00:27] – Who Can Actually Adapt? (Brookings Study)6.1 million U.S. workers face high AI exposure and low adaptive capacity—86% of them women—raising deeper concerns about equity, identity, and intentional workforce design.

[00:32] – When AI Makes Work Harder (Harvard Business Review)Research reveals that enthusiastic AI adoption can intensify work, blur boundaries, and increase cognitive load—unless leaders design intentional norms and pauses.

[00:37] – The Bigger Question: Where Will Meaning Come From? As AI takes on more structured tasks, the real design challenge becomes human purpose, relationships, and connection in an AI-driven world.

Resources Mentioned

• Something Big is Happening - Matt Schumer
• Teaching the Skills AI Can’t Replace - Nord Anglia 
• Measuring US Workers Capacity to Adapt - Brookings Institute
• AI Doesn’t Reduce Work - It Intensifies It - HBR

🤝 Partner with Us: Join the AI Power Circle and collaborate with forward-thinking educators building the future with AI.

📘 Get the Book: Designing Schools — a practical blueprint to transform your campus with creativity, leadership, and innovation.

🎓 Prepare Your Students for an AI Future: The Future Ready Student AI Playbook a 10-hour course experience to graduate your students AI ready.

Explore More from Designing Schools

For questions, email: [email protected]