Learning Curve

For colleges and schools, the relationship with major AI companies is complicated. Many are buying AI tools for their students, even as they strain to prevent harms to learning caused by these same tools.

For this episode of Learning Curve, we wanted to talk directly to folks at the frontier AI labs to hear their philosophy of how they see AI changing learning — and what they plan to do to prevent potential downsides to education. Jeff connected with OpenAI’s Brian Johnsrud, global head of education engagement, and Google’s Ben Gomes, who leads learning and sustainability there. It seems these companies are betting that education as we know it will change significantly in the next few years because of how AI is changing the workplace and society. 

EPISODE CREDITS: 

Reported and produced by Jeff Young

Music by Komiku

©Copyright 2026 Learning Curve Productions LLC

Modern AI systems follow a logic of prediction to deliver their answers. Sociologist Mona Sloane sees a cultural precedent for ascribing so much power to a predictive system — the Oracle of Delphi in ancient Greece. 

Works mentioned in this episode:

“Predicted: How AI Is Restructuring Social Life,” by Mona Sloane.

“How Colleges Can Safeguard Democracy in an AI Era,” a past episode of Learning Curve.

“Gaseous Emissions at Oracle of Delphi Entranced the Pythia,” in Scientific American.

“The Law of Prediction,” by Ari Ezra Waldman, in SSRN.

Thanks to this episode's sponsor, Studiosity.

EPISODE CREDITS: 

Reported and produced by Jeff Young

Music by Komiku

©Copyright 2026 Learning Curve Productions LLC

Clay Shirky leads NYU’s AI efforts, and his background is as a media theorist commenting on how tech changes society. During the rise of social media 20 years ago, he was giving TED talks and writing popular books on how digital tech was altering our world. 

To his surprise, though, he says that background in earlier tech revolutions hasn’t been much help in figuring out how college professors should adapt to AI. This tech is different, he says, and NYU is now pivoting from the early advice they offered on the technology.

Articles mentioned in this episode:

“AI Is a ‘Wicked Problem.’ That’s the University’s Specialty,” By Clay Shirky in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

“Students Are Skipping the Hardest Part of Growing Up,” by Clay Shirky in The New York Times.

“Can’t Stop Using ChatGPT on HW,” Reddit post, now deleted but on the Internet Archive.

“Guilty about using AI but don’t know how not to,” Reddit post.

“The Souls of the Machine: Clay Shirky says the Internet revolution has only just begun,” by Jeff Young in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

"AI Homework," by Ben Thompson.

“‘We don’t need to panic’: Clay Shirky on NYU’s approach to AI,” in Washington Square News. 

“Inside the MIT Report on How AI Is Eroding Campus Culture,” Learning Curve Season 2 Ep. 1

“The AI Optimist Researching ‘Cognitive Surrender’,” Learning Curve Season 1 Ep. 21 

“A Question of Signaling,” by Bryan Kaplan.

“The wicked problem of AI and assessment,” in Assessment & Evaluation in Education.

“Good Anxiety: Harnessing the Power of the Most Misunderstood Emotion,” by Wendy Suzuki.

EPISODE CREDITS: 

Reported and produced by Jeff Young

Music by Komiku

©Copyright 2026 Learning Curve Productions LLC

The Gates Foundation recently pledged $1 billion over two years for AI efforts, with a large share going to education. Why the big AI push, even as Bill Gates warns of the technology's possible downsides for society? And what does the foundation see as the most effective uses of AI in education, and how is it guarding against unintended consequences?

Articles mentioned this episode:

“Gates Foundation Pledges $1 Billion to Combat A.I. Inequality,” in The New York Times.

“The turbulent AI era is here. The choices we make now are critical,” by Bill Gates.

“Can AI Improve Intro Courses? A New Courseware Project Hopes So,” in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

“One Click Away: AI Tutoring with Khanmigo in a Two-Year School Experiment,” at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

EPISODE CREDITS: 

Reported and produced by Jeff Young

Music by Komiku

©Copyright 2026 Learning Curve Productions LLC

A new internal report at MIT warns that AI is making learning less social, as more students turn to chatbots rather than classmates when they’re stuck. The report, which is sparking discussion across higher ed and even in some media reports, argues that this esteemed university needs to reboot all aspects of teaching and assessment now that AI can complete just about any assignment a professor can hand out. Can AI be part of the answer to preserving social learning at universities? 

Read the report from MIT’s Ad Hoc Committee on AI Use in Teaching, Learning, and Research Training.

"Happy 60th Birthday to the Word “Hack," in MIT Alumni.

See the student MIT prank that landed a firetruck on the university's Great Dome. 

EPISODE CREDITS: 

Reported and produced by Jeff Young

Music by Komiku

©Copyright 2026 Learning Curve Productions LLC

A look back at the key lessons from Season 1 of this podcast, plus a look at what’s new with AI on campus as a new academic year begins.

A Turning Point in AI Writing, in The Atlantic.

Can ‘Linguistic Fingerprinting’ Guard Against AI Cheating? in EdSurge

MIT lays out vision for navigating AI in higher education, ‘A watershed moment’  in MassLive.

EPISODE CREDITS: 

Reported and produced by Jeff Young

Music by Komiku

©Copyright 2026 Learning Curve Productions LLC

For this episode we're focusing on how liberal arts colleges are adapting to AI. On a recent day at Carleton College, two very different lunch conversations among faculty reveal the variety of views on whether and how to use AI in teaching. This episode first ran in April.

Thanks to our sponsor, Studiosity.

“The Hottest College Majors in the AI Age Just Might Be in the Liberal Arts,” in Inc.

Carleton College LTC Targeted Audience Lunch - “What Students Think about AI and Learning.”

"You Can Do Anything: The Surprising Power of a ‘Useless’ Liberal Arts Education," by George Anders.

"The Evidence Liberal Arts Needs" by Richard Detweiler.

EPISODE CREDITS: 

Reported and produced by Jeff Young

Music by Komiku

©Copyright 2026 Learning Curve Productions LLC

For this episode Jeff connected with Evan Ratliff, who created what he calls “the world’s first AI-led startup” to see what happens when AI agents run a company.

Shell Game podcast, by Evan Ratliff.

"Silicon Valley’s New Obsession: Watching Bots Do Their Grunt Work," in The Wall Street Journal.

EPISODE CREDITS: 

Reported and produced by Jeff Young

Music by Komiku

©Copyright 2026 Learning Curve Productions LLC

Will AI lead to an arms race of detectors and humanizers, or will it bring on bigger changes in teaching that might make college better?

Related links:

Signs of AI writing, on Wikipedia

“How An AI Detector Made Me Trust People Less,” by Marc Watkins.

EPISODE CREDITS: 

Reported and produced by Jeff Young

Music by Komiku

©Copyright 2026 Learning Curve Productions LLC

On this episode, Jeff talks with two prominent artists with different takes on AI. One experimental artist sees her students doing new kinds of work thanks to AI, and a celebrated science-fiction author argues AI is sold as a shortcut that takes away human agency and encourages a form of plagiarism masked by technology.

Related links:

New Learning Curve web app to help hone your thinking on the episode, developed by Tara Baumgarten, a learning experience designer.

“Kinds of Space, Ways of Seeing,” by Angela Ferraiolo in The AI Art Magazine, March 2026.

A Liquid Cinema: AI and the Transition from Montage to Morphology, a talk by Angela Ferraiolo.

Angela Ferraiolo website.

“Why A.I. Isn’t Going to Make Art,” By Ted Chiang in The New Yorker.

“No, Artificial Intelligence Is Not Conscious,” by Ted Chiang in The Atlantic.

Thanks to this week’s advertiser, Studiosity

And check out Jeff's AI newsletter, Jagged Intelligence

EPISODE CREDITS: 

Reported and produced by Jeff Young

Music by Komiku

©Copyright 2026 Learning Curve Productions LLC