AI in Education Podcast

Why would a leading law school ban AI entirely while other countries are giving every citizen access to ChatGPT?
In this news-focused episode, Ray and Dan unpack some of the biggest developments shaping AI and education around the world. They discuss China's new national AI education strategy, Malta's ambitious "AI for All" programme, Harvard's expansion of student AI access, and Anthropic's $200 million partnership with the Gates Foundation.
The conversation explores a controversial decision by the University of California, Berkeley School of Law to prohibit AI use in assessed work, raising important questions about judgement, employability, and the future role of AI in professional education.
They also examine new research on how people are actually using AI, why Australian students' digital literacy is falling despite increased screen time, and what educators can learn from a high-profile academic integrity case involving an AI-assisted newspaper article.
Finally, they highlight Jason La Greca's excellent framework for testing and stress-testing educational chatbots before they are deployed to students.
All the links:
China launches AI empowering education action plan, includes AI into teacher qualification exams
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202604/1358611.shtml 
 
The Amazon-Perplexity Ruling and Implications for "Agentic AI" in EdTech
https://www.rumidocs.com/newsroom/the-amazon-perplexity-ruling-and-implications-for-agentic-ai-in-edtech 
 
Malta gives every Maltese (at home and abroad!) ChatGPT free - with a catch
https://openai.com/index/malta-chatgpt-plus-partnership/ 
 
Harvard students avoid uni-provided ChatGPT
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/4/28/fas-anthropic-claude/ 
 
Anthropic's forms $200M partnership with the Gates Foundation
https://www.anthropic.com/news/gates-foundation-partnership 
 
University of California Berkeley School of Law bans AI
https://www.law.berkeley.edu/academics/registrar/academic-rules/artificial-intelligence-policy/ 
 
Australian students' digital literacy at an all time low
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-05-27/school-students-digital-literacy-at-new-low-test-shows/106724164 
 
How people are really using AI
https://hbr.org/2026/06/how-people-are-really-using-ai-in-2026 
 
Walton Family Foundation Educator Research: closing the expectations gap
https://www.gallup.com/analytics/659819/k-12-teacher-research.aspx 
 
From the "You couldn't make this up" department 
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/jun/03/sydney-academic-used-ai-opinion-piece-urging-students-to-avoid-using-it-ntwnfb 
https://www.smh.com.au/national/uni-academic-admits-she-used-ai-to-write-opinion-piece-in-defence-of-ai-20260602-p6038j.html 
 
Can you spot AI writing?
https://fakewriters.onrender.com/ 
 
 
How to break your chatbot - from Jason La Greca
https://teachyourselfout.substack.com/p/the-ultimate-jailbreak-test-suite

What is the purpose of education in an AI-driven world?
In this thought-provoking episode of the AI in Education Podcast, Ray and Dan sit down with Pasi Sahlberg to explore one of the biggest questions facing schools, universities, and society today.
Drawing on global research, OECD trends, and decades of educational leadership, Pasi explains why traditional measures of success - achievement, credentials, and test performance - may no longer be enough in the age of AI.
The conversation explores:
Human capital vs human flourishing
Why wellbeing and agency matter more than ever
The future of assessment and PISA
AI's impact on work, learning, and society
Why "hope is not a strategy"
What schools should prioritise over the next decade
The episode also reflects on parenting, teacher accountability, screen time, and the human skills that may become most valuable as AI capabilities accelerate.
Referenced in this episode:
 OECD Education for Human Flourishing. 
https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/education-for-human-flourishing_73d7cb96-en.html 
An accidental guru: The making of an education warrior
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S073805932600060X 
Sir Ken Robinson at TED - Do Schools Kill Creativity?
https://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_do_schools_kill_creativity 
 
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This special live episode of the AI in Education Podcast was recorded at the CEnet Future:Forward Conference "Flourish 2026", where Dan and Ray explored one of the biggest questions facing education today: how do schools find the "happy middle" with AI?
The conversation dives into the shifting narrative around AI and jobs, the growing role of human agency in education, and why wellbeing, flourishing and trust must remain central as AI adoption accelerates. Along the way, they unpack new research on AI bias, AI detectors, cognitive debt, student safety, and the widening gap between individual innovation and organisational readiness.
The episode also reflects on keynote insights from Pasi Sahlberg and discussions around OECD flourishing metrics, parent engagement, and what schools can do now to bring entire communities along on the AI journey.
This is a thoughtful, practical and deeply human conversation about balancing opportunity, risk and responsibility in education's AI future.
Topics covered:
AI and the future of work
Human flourishing and wellbeing
AI bias in education
Safe AI use in schools
Parent and community engagement
AI detectors and academic integrity
The "happy middle" approach to technology adoption
Research Papers, and links to things we discussed
The changing tune of the AI leaders: The Jobs Apocalypse no more...
See these tweets for last year's story: Jensen Huang, Sam Altman, and Mustafa Suleyman
And this year's story: Sam Altman, Mark Zuckerberg and Jensen Huang
 
Microsoft's Work Trend Index report 2026
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index/agents-human-agency-and-the-opportunity-for-every-organization 
Pasi Sahlberg
His website: https://pasisahlberg.com/ 
OECD research he discussed: https://www.oecd.org/en/data/dashboards/pisa-education-and-skills/digital-leisure-outside-school.html (the chart was from Figure 2.4 here)
Victoria Hedlund, the "AI Bias Girl'
https://www.linkedin.com/in/victoriamhedlund/ and on Substack at https://victoriahedlund.substack.com/
Her LinkedIn post that kicked off the SquashMallow test: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/victoriamhedlund_biasgirl-biasaware-stem-activity-7454786540133584896-E64 
The retracted Nature research paper on AI in Education: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-025-04787-y
Think U Know: https://www.thinkuknow.org.au/

Inside Sydney's AI Hub: Building University Automation That Works
In this episode, Dan and Ray are joined by Dan Hart, now leading the Automation and Innovation Hub at the University of Sydney.
Dan shares how the Hub has evolved from a robotic process automation team into a university-wide service using automation and AI to improve everyday work. With around 400 automated processes running across the university, the team helps staff remove repetitive, time-consuming tasks without taking away the human parts of their roles.
The conversation explores practical examples, including AI-powered invoice processing, and how generative AI is changing the software development lifecycle. Dan explains how tools like Cursor and AI-assisted coding are speeding up development, while also raising important questions about security, code quality, workload intensity, and developer wellbeing.
The episode also dives into vibe coding, what it means for enterprise systems, and why the future of software development may depend less on hand-writing code and more on communication, problem-solving, and understanding users.

We kick off Series 17 with a multi-interview episode!
Recorded live at the The Anglican Schools Corporation "Day of AI" in Western Sydney, this episode brings together three educators who are reshaping teaching, assessment and student learning in real classrooms with AI.
You'll hear from Maria Mertzanakis at Oran Park Anglican College on how teachers are building shared "Brains" in NotebookLM to save time, improve differentiation and support pedagogy, while reducing workload by more than 50 hours a week across staff workflows.
Nathan Jones from Marsden Park Anglican College shares how AI is opening new creative possibilities for students and teachers alike, and why schools needed to guide students toward using AI well rather than trying to ban it.
And Patrick Ell from Roseville College explores what happens in a "post-product world", where assessment can no longer rely on trust in the final submission alone. His focus? Designing learning experiences that value process, thinking and cognitive craft.
We had a lovely grounded, practical and optimistic conversation with these teachers, who are leading from the front as schools navigate the realities of AI in education. Really great to have been invited to attend and participate by Julian Ridden, the TASC Head of AI.