ChatEDU – The AI & Education Podcast

In this episode of ChatEDU, Will AI Flatten the K-12 and Higher Education Org Chart?, Matt and Liz kick it off with a deep dive into the troubling rise of "slopaganda” (AI-generated content used for political manipulation). They discuss the jarring emergence of Lego-style political figures involving world leaders and "poo-bombing" videos, reflecting on how these digital fakes erode public trust. 

The Rundown

Adobe Student Spaces turns notes into flashcards, quizzes, and AI podcasts.

Gemini gains NotebookLM's project notebooks for chats and sources.

Counselor GPT helps NYC school counselors handle admin and student queries.

NYC adopts red/yellow/green AI guidance for teachers.

Ivy Leaguers are dropping out for AI startups.

A 58-year-old technophobe builds a business with Claude.

Gallup: Gen Z's AI excitement turns to anger.

White House AI Challenge spotlights K-12 innovators.

Dementia risk drops with internet use, and EdAdvance's Screen Shift soft-launches.

Peninsula District saves $250K with DIY AI tools.

Beneath the Surface

Matt and Liz examine a radical restructuring at Block (Square/Cash App) where the company collapsed eight levels of management into just three: Individual Contributors, Directly Responsible Individuals, and Player-Coaches. They conduct a thought experiment on whether AI and "World Models" could eventually allow K-12 and Higher Ed institutions to remove layers of middle management by automating coordination and data routing.

Bright Byte

The show highlights "Ghost Murmur," a previously classified AI tool used by the CIA. This technology utilizes quantum magnetometry to detect a human heartbeat from miles away, which recently helped rescuers locate and save a downed U.S. airman hiding in a remote mountain crevice in Iran.

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

Edia: The Ai Platform to improve K-12 outcomes - ⁠edia.app/contact⁠

Links

The Rise of AI Slopaganda
⁠https://tinyurl.com/3jr5xyy9⁠

Adobe Acrobat Student Spaces
⁠https://tinyurl.com/2pvk3fwy⁠

Gemini Notebooks Are Here
⁠https://tinyurl.com/38yzv8sy⁠

AI College Counseling on Demand
⁠https://tinyurl.com/5n823vp6⁠

AI Guidance: March 2026
⁠https://tinyurl.com/58ettkp4⁠

Princetonians swap school for Silicon Valley ⁠https://tinyurl.com/czwc938w⁠

AI Use Up, Approval Down
⁠https://tinyurl.com/43rz9ysy⁠

Gen Z Warms to AI, Cools on Trust
⁠https://tinyurl.com/934bmd2b⁠

3 Harmony Teams Win Texas AI Challenge
⁠https://tinyurl.com/3s5m45uv⁠

Needham Kids Build AI Solutions
⁠https://tinyurl.com/kjxnbrxv⁠

Internet Use May Cut Dementia Risk
⁠https://tinyurl.com/yzevbmps⁠

$250K Saved Through Vibe Coding
⁠https://tinyurl.com/2ayt2k2t⁠

Jack Dorsey cuts 4,000 Job Cuts
⁠https://tinyurl.com/bd7zcsdt⁠

AI Predicts Heart Failure 5 Years Out
⁠https://tinyurl.com/29cb5b33⁠

AI Designs Stronger, Rust-Proof Steel
⁠https://tinyurl.com/mu254pc8⁠

Secret CIA Tool Finds Downed Airman
⁠https://tinyurl.com/38jkksfy⁠

In this ChatEDU Check-In: China's Surveillance Classroom, Matt explores China's national movement to integrate high-tech surveillance and AI into the daily lives of students. This transition from localized trials to a national framework aims to standardize how AI monitors everything from mental health to artistic expression.

Key Takeaways:

Schools are utilizing facial recognition to diagnose internal psychological states and identify students struggling with focus or clinical mental health challenges.

The Chinese government is establishing a national digital framework to codify AI integration and ensure equity through standardized infrastructure.

Personal aspects of learning, such as creativity and emotional response, are being converted into data sets for machine analysis and grading.

Matt’s Two Cents: While the drive for a common infrastructure and equitable playing field is a clear motivation for large scale AI adoption, the level of mass surveillance seen in this episode would be difficult to digest in Western democratic nations. The evolution of this technology shows that countries are moving in drastically different directions regarding the balance of student privacy and data-driven engagement monitoring.

Link

China's AI Education Experiment
https://tinyurl.com/4a2vfudv

Sponsor

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: The IT department, where AI goes to die?, Matt explores the risks of treating generative AI as a standard enterprise software rollout. This episode examines how traditional corporate and school structures may inadvertently stifle the transformative potential of AI through excessive normalization and risk aversion.

Key Takeaways:

Treating AI as a standard software deployment flattens its unique capabilities and ignores how fundamentally different these systems are from previous office automation.

Focusing solely on simple automation and efficiency gains prevents genuine augmentation, causing schools to miss opportunities to redefine instructional environments or student partnerships.

Overly cautious oversight from risk averse departments leads to an information gap where innovative users hide their AI activity, preventing leadership from developing a realistic strategic vision.

Matt’s Two Cents: School leaders must resist the urge to de-weird AI by handing total control to risk-averse departments that prioritize elimination over experimentation. Real innovation is often bubbling up from lead teachers and principals rather than centralized IT, and it requires leaders to model risk taking to bring these high value use cases out of the shadows and into a mature organizational strategy.

Link:

The IT department: Where AI goes to die
https://tinyurl.com/ynj8fxn7

Sponsor

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: The IT department, where AI goes to die?, Matt explores the risks of treating generative AI as a standard enterprise software rollout. This episode examines how traditional corporate and school structures may inadvertently stifle the transformative potential of AI through excessive normalization and risk aversion.

Key Takeaways:

Treating AI as a standard software deployment flattens its unique capabilities and ignores how fundamentally different these systems are from previous office automation.

Focusing solely on simple automation and efficiency gains prevents genuine augmentation, causing schools to miss opportunities to redefine instructional environments or student partnerships.

Overly cautious oversight from risk averse departments leads to an information gap where innovative users hide their AI activity, preventing leadership from developing a realistic strategic vision.

Matt’s Two Cents: School leaders must resist the urge to de-weird AI by handing total control to risk-averse departments that prioritize elimination over experimentation. Real innovation is often bubbling up from lead teachers and principals rather than centralized IT, and it requires leaders to model risk taking to bring these high value use cases out of the shadows and into a mature organizational strategy.

Link:

The IT department: Where AI goes to die
https://tinyurl.com/ynj8fxn7

Sponsor

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: The IT department, where AI goes to die?, Matt explores the risks of treating generative AI as a standard enterprise software rollout. This episode examines how traditional corporate and school structures may inadvertently stifle the transformative potential of AI through excessive normalization and risk aversion.

Key Takeaways:

Treating AI as a standard software deployment flattens its unique capabilities and ignores how fundamentally different these systems are from previous office automation.

Focusing solely on simple automation and efficiency gains prevents genuine augmentation, causing schools to miss opportunities to redefine instructional environments or student partnerships.

Overly cautious oversight from risk averse departments leads to an information gap where innovative users hide their AI activity, preventing leadership from developing a realistic strategic vision.

Matt’s Two Cents: School leaders must resist the urge to de-weird AI by handing total control to risk-averse departments that prioritize elimination over experimentation. Real innovation is often bubbling up from lead teachers and principals rather than centralized IT, and it requires leaders to model risk taking to bring these high value use cases out of the shadows and into a mature organizational strategy.

Link:

The IT department: Where AI goes to die
⁠https://tinyurl.com/ynj8fxn7⁠

Sponsor

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/⁠⁠⁠.