
Rewind: How AI is fueling an existential crisis in education
From Decoder with Nilay Patel by The Verge
May 7, 2026 · 42 min
About this episode
This episode discusses the challenges and implications of generative AI in education as the school year comes to a close.
Hey, everyone, Nilay here. We’re off today, while the team and I are cooking on a lot of really great stuff in the coming weeks. We’ll be back with an all-new interview on Monday. In the meantime, we really wanted to highlight this episode we first aired in the fall, because it’s about a huge subject: AI in schools. The school year is starting to wrap up now around the country, and we’re no closer to figuring out how to thread the needle about generative AI in education than we were in September. Links: A majority of high school students use gen AI for schoolwork | College Board About a quarter of teens have used ChatGPT for schoolwork | Pew Research Your brain on ChatGPT | MIT Media Lab My students think it’s fine to cheat with AI. Maybe they’re on to something. | Vox How children understand and learn from conversational AI | McGill University ‘File not Found’ | The Verge Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder! Credits: Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Ursa Wright. The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit…
People in this episode
Host: Nilay Patel
Topics covered
- AI in education
- generative AI
- schoolwork
- existential crisis
- technology in schools
Keywords
- AI
- education
- generative AI
- ChatGPT
- schoolwork
- students
- technology
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: The Verge, College Board, Pew Research, MIT Media Lab, Vox, McGill University, Vox Media Podcast Network
Products: ChatGPT
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