ChatEDU – The AI & Education Podcast

In this episode of ChatEDU IDK: When the AI Revolution Meets the Bored Teenager, Matt and Liz open with the world of AI-generated influencers, including an Indian medical student who used Google Gemini to spin up "Emily Hart," a fictional MAGA persona, for revenue and engagement. They unpack how this "rage bait" entrepreneurship reflects the growing tie between AI personas and political polarization.

Gemini in Chromebooks brings near-universal AI access to New Hampshire schools.

A new feature shows parents student AI use on school devices, doubling as literacy curriculum.

Utah's new law bars AI grading and limits device access in younger grades.

The EU's new age verification app was reportedly bypassed in two minutes.

A Chicago professor swapped take-home essays for a 10,000-word class collaboration.

Rasmussen is moving to D2L Brightspace to personalize learning with AI.

A learning theory built on delegating to AI while maintaining "epistemic monitoring."

Meta engineers are reportedly chasing "Slop KPIs," prizing AI token volume over quality.

Meta is logging employee mouse and screen activity to train "computer use" AI models.

Penn State students won cash for AI projects from car crash analysis to sign language translation.

The Beneath the Surface

Matt and Liz unpack Khan Academy's "pivot," where Sal Khan conceded the AI tutor revolution has stalled because students lack the inquiry skills to engage with the bot. With commentary from Justin Reich and Dan Meyer, they ask whether the dream needs a reality check.

The Bright Byte

This week's Bright Byte features the Google.org Impact Challenge: AI for Science, a 30 million dollar initiative funding AI-driven health and climate breakthroughs.

Announcements

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

Register for our educator + leader AI Micro-Credential in partnership with Southern Connecticut State University - skills21.org/ai/micro.

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-balance⁠⁠⁠

Register for the Spring AI Conference (5.1.26) in Litchfield, CT - ⁠https://www.skills21.org/event-details/ai-in-education-spring-2026-conference⁠ 

Address Screen Time concerns - ⁠skills21.org/ai/screenshift⁠ 

Sponsors

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

Links

AI-Generated MAGA Girl Used to Grift "Super Dumb" Men
https://tinyurl.com/bdzm7khe

Alarm Grows Over AI Integration in Schools
https://tinyurl.com/5axwzna4

Safety Platform Opens Window Into Students' AI Usage for Parents
https://tinyurl.com/4zzmexhj

Utah Curbs AI Grading and School Device Use
https://tinyurl.com/4sk967ma

EU Age Verification Fix May Backfire
https://tinyurl.com/ysm58u8w

How I Fixed My AI-Ruined Philosophy Classes
https://tinyurl.com/4ky2n23t

Rasmussen University replaces Blackboard with Brightspace
https://tinyurl.com/rf8b385w

Agentivism: Learning Theory for the AI Age
https://tinyurl.com/mpn75exy

How Tokenmaxxing Is Making AI Worse
https://tinyurl.com/5x2jewr2

Meta Staff Revolt Over AI Tracking Program
https://tinyurl.com/69j9ua2j

Rockefeller Bets $100M on AI Job Disruption
https://tinyurl.com/3428bpfd

Students Win Cash for AI Solutions in Nittany AI Challenge
https://tinyurl.com/y7zjzxym

Sal Khan on Why His AI Revolution Has Stalled
https://tinyurl.com/mp5rcey5

In this ChatEDU Check-In: The Rise of Degree Hacking, Matt explores the growing trend of competency-based education models that allow students to complete bachelor's degrees in months rather than years. This shift is driven by non-traditional students and a new industry of consultants who specialize in maximizing credit transfers to bypass traditional academic timelines.

Key Takeaways:
The University of Maine's YourPace program enables students to finish entire degree course loads in as little as eight weeks through high-intensity, flat-rate sessions.

A burgeoning industry of influencers and coaches helps students "credit max" by transferring in up to three-quarters of their required credits from non-traditional sources before enrollment.

Academic leaders are raising concerns regarding the depth of learning and the long-term value of these hyper-accelerated credentials compared to traditional multi-year experiences.

Matt’s Two Cents: While AI is not explicitly mentioned in the reporting, it will undoubtedly act as a massive accelerant for degree hacking through tools like agentic browsers that can automate tasks within learning management systems. District leaders must recognize that as the labor market experiences disruption and college costs soar, the pressure to treat education as a series of hurdles to be cleared rather than a deep learning experience will only intensify.

Article:
Students are speeding through their online degrees in weeks, alarming educators
https://bit.ly/41XsvE7

In this ChatEDU Check-In: Mark Zuckerberg's AI Clone for Employee Meetings, Matt explores the development of a digital replica of Meta's CEO designed to interact with the company's workforce. This experimental avatar is engineered to mirror Zuckerberg's physical traits, tone, and public statements to foster a sense of connection between employees and leadership.

Key Takeaways:

Meta is training an AI avatar on Zuckerberg’s image and voice to serve as a bridge for employee engagement in professional settings.

This internal experiment acts as a pilot for a broader rollout of personalized AI personas for creators and public figures on Meta platforms.

Zuckerberg is personally increasing his technical involvement by spending up to 10 hours a week coding and reviewing Meta’s AI infrastructure.

Matt’s Two Cents: The focus on creating executive avatars to replace human interaction in meetings highlights a disconnect between big tech priorities and public needs. Instead of building tools for social or environmental good, resources are being funneled into vanity projects that may actually fuel public backlash against artificial intelligence.

Article:

Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly building an AI clone to replace him in meetings
https://bit.ly/3OzuFXo

In this episode of ChatEDU, From Think Tank to Action Tank, Matt and Liz kick it off with a lighthearted look at the bizarre collaboration between Starbucks and OpenAI. They discuss a new ChatGPT widget designed to recommend drinks based on a customer's outfit or mood, which Matt jokes is perfect for Liz’s "fashionista" reputation but perhaps less helpful for baristas dealing with AI-hallucinated "Mango Dream" energy drinks.

The Rundown

Anthropic’s Andan Labs opened a physical pop-up store in San Francisco managed by "Luna," an AI agent that signed the lease, hired workers, and curated a collection of ironic books.

A deep dive into how the zSpace ExpansionDanbury Public Schools is scaling immersive AR/VR technology to 30 devices per building to support STEM and career pathways.

An update on how federal funding is being steered toward AI initiatives in special education, early intervention, and personalized learning.

A study by Dr. Tori Trust analyzed 450 AI-generated lessons, finding they often default to passive, teacher-centered activities like worksheets rather than tech-rich experiences.

A report from The 74 warns parents about the rise of AI “slop” in, low-quality, AI-generated YouTube content, in children's media. This content often contains factual errors and safety hazards like infants eating honey.

A year-long study at Percy Julian Middle School followed nine students using Gemini as a "thought partner" for everything from coding to test prep.

Beneath the Surface

Matt sits down with Emily Musil, Managing Director at the Milken Institute, to discuss the shift from being a "think tank" to an "action tank." Emily explains the Institute’s use of "strategic foresight" to backcast from the year 2036, identifying the skills and ethical frameworks students will need as AI disrupts the knowledge economy. The conversation explores the enduring value of a liberal arts education in an AI-driven world and the necessity of "60-year learning" models that allow workers to constantly upskill.

The Bright Byte

Liz highlights a comprehensive report on the societal impact of AI in 2026. While acknowledging risks like job displacement, the segment focuses on massive gains in healthcare, including a 40% improvement in cancer detection and the compression of drug discovery timelines from 15 years down to five.

Announcements

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-balance⁠⁠⁠

Register for the Spring AI Conference (5.1.26) in Litchfield, CT - ⁠https://www.skills21.org/event-details/ai-in-education-spring-2026-conference⁠

Address Screen Time concerns - ⁠skills21.org/ai/screenshift⁠

Sponsors

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

Links

Milken Institute, "Computing Imperative: Building America’s Talent Engine in the Age of AI": https://milkeninstitute.org/content-hub/research-and-reports/reports/computing-imperative-building-americas-talent-engine-age-ai

Starbucks' Baffling ChatGPT Collab Treats Customers Like Empty Cups
https://tinyurl.com/37djbxm2

We gave an AI a 3 year retail lease and asked it to make a profit
https://tinyurl.com/2t93kmkp

Danbury Schools Expand zSpace for Career-Connected Learning
https://tinyurl.com/ye43dzcj

How the Ed Department Will Prioritize AI in Grants
https://tinyurl.com/49ch2yw9

Ed Researchers Earn Top Paper at National Ed Tech Conference
https://tinyurl.com/5xvtv3ke

May 12, 2026 | Berkshire Community College. Register: ⁠https://lnkd.in/gHFFjEjX⁠

AI 'Slop' Is Taking Over Children's Media
https://tinyurl.com/3yn29cps

Students Dove Into AI. Here's What They Told Teachers
https://tinyurl.com/38yy6wfe

The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Society in 2026
https://tinyurl.com/ya3zf4j5

In this ChatEDU Check-In: Testing tools to break the screen time cycle, Liz explores the efficacy of physical and digital barriers in curbing excessive student screen time. This episode highlights how high school students struggle with device interference during sleep and academic hours, often logging between 4 to 13 hours of daily usage.

Key Takeaways:

Physical barriers like the Brick device create a necessary pause by requiring a physical object to unlock specific apps, effectively removing temptation while away from home.

Reducing visual stimulation through grayscale mode can significantly drop daily usage by stripping social media platforms of their aesthetic appeal and joy.

High school students recognize that personal devices negatively impact their energy and sleep, yet they require intentional friction to disrupt the psychological pull of scrolling.

Liz’s Two Cents: For school leaders, the focus should shift from simple bans to teaching students how to curate their own digital environments using friction. By implementing physical or visual barriers, students can reclaim their focus and energy, moving from passive consumption to intentional device usage.

Article:

3 New Jersey teens took part in a weeklong experiment to curb screen time. It worked.
https://tinyurl.com/57and23d