In this episode of EdTechnical, Libby and Owen speak with Rebecca Winthrop, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, where she directs the Center for Universal Education. Rebecca and her team recently ran a ‘pre-mortem’ on generative AI in education: rather than waiting years for the evidence to settle, they conducted a yearlong study on the risks it poses to students, and what we can do now to prevent them while making the most of the benefits.

Drawing on focus groups, a thorough review of studies, and a forecasting panel, the report paints a striking picture: as things stand, the risks of generative AI for children's learning and development outweigh the benefits. Rebecca explains the risks are foundational, undermining the trust, independent thinking, and resilience that children need in order to benefit from AI. A key distinction runs through the conversation: risks tend to come from wide AI use, where children have open-ended, unscaffolded conversations with tools not designed for them, while benefits come from narrow, intentional use integrated into teaching with vetted content.

Bio

Rebecca Winthrop is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and director of its Center for Universal Education, where she leads the Brookings Global Task Force on AI in Education. She advises governments, policymakers and international institutions on education and previously led education work for displaced and conflict-affected communities. She is a co-author of the report A New Direction for Students in an AI World: Prosper, Prepare, Protect.

Links

Research Report by the Brookings Institution’s Center for Universal Education:
A New Direction for Students in an AI World: Prosper, Prepare, Protect

Brookings Institution Center for Universal Education: https://www.brookings.edu/topics/education-2/

Join us on social media:

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• Listen to all episodes of EdTechnical here: https://bold.expert/ed-technical
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Credits: Sarah Myles for production support; Josie Hills for graphic design; Anabel Altenburg for content production.

Libby is on maternity leave, so Hermione Thompson steps in to guest co-host this episode alongside Owen. Hermione is AI and EdTech lead at Purposeful Ventures and previously advised on education policy inside the UK Prime Minister’s Office at 10 Downing Street.

Owen and Hermione sit down with Minister Olivia Bailey, the UK Department for Education minister responsible for AI in schools, for a conversation on where AI in education is headed. Bailey believes government should actively shape this space rather than sit back. Through the government's AI Tutoring Tools Pioneer Programme, up to eight companies will be selected to co-design curriculum-aligned AI tutoring tools directly with schools. Trials start this summer, and a national rollout is targeted for 2027, potentially reaching 450,000 disadvantaged pupils a year.

Bailey says these coming tools are fundamentally different from a generic chatbot that gives children the answers without engagement or challenge. She explains how they are thinking about the tension between personalized AI and managing a classroom of 30 kids who need to study the same topic. The government's approach is to test and learn different approaches to see how children get the learning benefits normally associated with a real-life personal tutor.

Bio

Olivia Bailey is a junior minister at the UK Department for Education, responsible for early years, school food, and digital/AI policy. Before Parliament, she worked in public policy for the Labour Party, advised Keir Starmer as Leader of the Opposition, and worked across think tanks and public opinion research. She now leads the department's AI Tutoring Tools Pioneer Programme and its AI safety standards for schools.

Links

DfE announcement: Edtech and AI companies invited to help build safe AI tutoring tools https://www.gov.uk/government/news/edtech-and-ai-companies-invited-to-help-build-safe-ai-tutoring-tools-for-disadvantaged-pupils

⁠Programme detail via AI.gov.uk: AI Infrastructure for Education https://ai.gov.uk/our-work/education/

Schools Week coverage, including union reaction: DfE invites bids from AI tutoring pilot partners https://schoolsweek.co.uk/dfe-invites-bids-from-ai-tutoring-pilot-partners/

Join us on social media:

• BOLD (@BOLD_insights), Libby Hills (@Libbylhhills) and Owen Henkel (@owen_henkel)
• Listen to all episodes of EdTechnical here: https://bold.expert/ed-technical
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• Stay up to date with all the latest research on child development and learning: https://bold.expert

Credits: Sarah Myles for production support; Josie Hills for graphic design; Anabel Altenburg for content production.

This season EdTech founder Libby Hills and AI researcher Owen Henkel continue to speak with leading researchers, practitioners and educators on the EdTechnical podcast series about the cutting edge of AI in education. They will break down complex AI concepts into non-technical insights to better understand what the research says and help educators sift the useful insights from the AI hype.

In the first episode of a new season of EdTechnical, Libby and Owen speak with Sam Gilbert, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London. Sam is one of the leading researchers studying ‘cognitive offloading’, the use of tools and technologies to support thinking and memory.

Are tools like ChatGPT making us cognitively weaker? Humans have been offloading for thousands of years in ever-advancing ways: supporting memory through written notes, calculators, GPS, and large language models. There is a difference between losing specific information we've offloaded and losing underlying cognitive abilities. The distinction matters for thinking about AI's impact on learning and education. “We need to build up foundational abilities, and then offloading is very useful after we’ve acquired them”, Sam says.

Sam Gilbert

Sam Gilbert is a Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London (UCL), where he leads the Metacognition and Executive Functions Group. His research focuses on memory, cognitive control, metacognition, and cognitive offloading. He is widely recognised for his work on how people use external tools and technologies to support thinking and memory.

Links

Cognitive Offloading (Risko & Gilbert, 2016): Cognitive Offloading - PubMed

UCL Metacognition & Executive Functions Group: Metacognition & Executive Functions | UCL Faculty of Brain Sciences

Join us on social media:

• BOLD (@BOLD_insights), Libby Hills (@Libbylhhills) and Owen Henkel (@owen_henkel)
• Listen to all episodes of EdTechnical here: https://bold.expert/ed-technical
• Subscribe to BOLD’s newsletter: https://bold.expert/newsletter
• Stay up to date with all the latest research on child development and learning: https://bold.expert

Credits: Sarah Myles for production support; Josie Hills for graphic design; Anabel Altenburg for content production.