In this ChatEDU Check-In: The Best Response to AI is a Library Card, Liz explores the critical intersection of basic literacy and artificial intelligence. The episode argues that the current rush to teach AI skills assumes a level of critical thinking and reading comprehension that many users have not yet mastered.

Key Takeaways:

AI literacy frameworks often mistakenly assume users can already read critically, assess evidence, and distinguish between persuasive arguments and factual truths.

Reading long form literature is essential for building cognitive muscles for sustained attention, which AI-generated text often fails to replicate.

The Slow AI Public Library project uses a diagnostic quiz to recommend specific books designed to rebuild the empathy, judgment, and patience that constant prompting can erode.

Article:

The Best Response to Ai is a Library Card

https://tinyurl.com/5h7x6e6k

Liz’s Two Cents: We are currently rushing to teach people how to use AI before ensuring they possess the fundamental literacy skills required to vet its output. For schools, the high level strategic implication is clear: the most effective "AI proofing" for students isn't more technology, but a doubling down on deep, difficult reading that forces encounters with perspectives that do not simply adapt to user preferences.

Sponsored by: Eduaide.ai

Eduaide: Where good ideas become great lessons. Eduaide is an AI-powered, research-based K-12 tool that creates high-quality resources, games, and graphic organizers built for better student outcomes. Take advantage of our special offer: 50 percent off an Eduaide subscription with code: ChatEDU at⁠ https://www.eduaide.ai/⁠.

In this ChatEDU Check-In: Teenage Boys and the AI Wingman, Liz explores how popular and athletic teenage boys are increasingly using ChatGPT to navigate dating and social anxieties. The episode highlights a shift where young men turn to AI for emotional support and social validation rather than their peer groups.

Key Takeaways:

Teenage boys are utilizing AI to vet text messages and seek feedback on their physical appearance to avoid the fear of social judgment.

The agreeable nature of AI creates a risk-free environment that lacks the necessary friction and accountability found in human social interactions.

Young people are bypassing human mentors to ask AI sensitive questions about consent and social behavior because it offers a judgment-free space.

Liz’s Two Cents: The move toward using AI as a social wingman indicates that the fear of social stigma is currently more daunting to young men than the prospect of receiving hollow or biased advice from a chatbot. For school leaders, this highlights a growing gap in traditional mentorship and the need for schools to address how AI might be reinforcing negative patterns during formative years without the nuance of human guidance.

Article:

Teen boys are using ChatGPT as their wingman. What could go wrong?

https://tinyurl.com/2hkcvkwh

Sponsored by: Eduaide.ai

Eduaide: Where good ideas become great lessons. Eduaide is an AI-powered, research-based K-12 tool that creates high-quality resources, games, and graphic organizers built for better student outcomes. Take advantage of our special offer: 50 percent off an Eduaide subscription with code: ChatEDU at⁠ https://www.eduaide.ai/⁠.