Learning Curve

A growing number of colleges are hiring Chief AI Officers to try to help set a strategy for adapting to generative AI. These ‘AI czars,’ as they are often called, are in a unique position to hear the good, the bad, and the messy about what's happening with AI in education. For this episode, Jeff talked with two AI czars — both from large state universities — to hear what they’ve learned. And we talk about why both of them have left the role.

The liberal arts are having a moment these days. As AI tools are automating knowledge work, there’s a growing sense that the best way to get a job now is to have skills that robots are still terrible at — like leading teams and communicating with other humans. Leaders of AI projects at Carleton College argue that liberal arts colleges are also ideally suited to adapt to AI. Jeff visited Carleton to test that theory, and found two faculty groups with very different views on AI.

For this episode we hear the story of two design projects at colleges that involved AI — one that led to celebration, and another that sparked controversy. These two situations reveal the challenges colleges face as they teach subjects that involve design and creativity. After all, what does it mean to teach art and design when free AI tools can generate sophisticated images in just a few seconds?

Competitive memory athlete Nelson Dellis has won multiple national championships, and he’s used AI to help him train for competitions. But as he turned to chatbots more and more, his thinking began to change. It fits into what Oakland University professor Barbara Oakley, an expert on how humans learn, calls the “Memory Paradox.” They’re among those making the case for requiring students from middle school to college to do more rote memorization — of poems, dates, capitals, and more.

During the ICE surge in Minneapolis, AI is playing a role in this tense and unfolding story, specifically how it is contributing to misinformation. What can educators do to prepare students, and any of us, for this new information landscape where AI is increasingly a factor. Jeff visited the University of Minnesota’s journalism school and talked with a professor who is exploring the role of AI in news, as well as three student journalists covering protests and ICE activity.

In the past few months new AI tools known as “Agentic AI” have emerged. These new browsers let users deploy AI assistants that can surf the web on their behalf. While they were designed to do things like book airline tickets or schedule meetings, students can use the tools to have the bot log into learning management systems to take quizzes for them. Anna Mills, a longtime English instructor, has called on AI companies to add a simple guardrail to keep these tools from assisting in academic fraud, just as they refuse to help with hacking or other unethical acts. The situation raises questions about how AI companies are responding to calls by educators to add safeguards to protect learning.

More than 40 percent of high school students have AI friends or know someone who does, according to a recent survey. What does this phenomenon mean for how students and teachers view the AI tools used in education. What are the risks and potential benefits of turning to a bot for companionship? Hear from a researcher who has studied AI friends, and from a college dean who developed an unexpected relationship with a bot.

AI is not the only disruptive force facing colleges these days. In fact, we may have already passed the peak of higher education’s size and role in American society. That’s the argument by futurist Bryan Alexander in his new book “Peak Higher Education,” which notes that AI is a huge part of what might be a sector at a crossroads. But he is looking for ways to harness AI to improve and rebuild colleges.

Colleges are experimenting with making online teaching videos featuring AI avatar versions of professors. Some students find the simulated likenesses of their instructors a bit creepy, but proponents say the technology could be key to making college courses more active and human. The idea is that AI will make it easy to make personalized teaching videos so that more teachers can adopt a “flipped classroom” approach — where students watch video lecturers as homework so class time is spent on discussion or projects.

A growing number of colleges are giving their students and professors free access to pro versions of AI tools, even as some professors and students worry about potential negative consequences of the technology. Jeff traveled to Duke University to talk to Evan Levine, senior director of IT services and support, and Michael Faber, assistant director of the Innovation Co-Lab to hear their philosophy behind their DukeGPT initiative. And he chats with a student as well, Muke Akume.

A former university president is trying to reimagine college teaching with AI in mind, and this year he released an unusual video that provides a kind of artist’s sketch of what that could look like. For this episode, I talk through the video with that leader, Paul LeBlanc, and get some reaction to the model from longtime teaching expert Maha Bali, a professor of practice at the Center for Learning and Teaching at the American University in Cairo.

Teachers and students can't help wondering ... what are we doing here? What's the role of education when AI seems able to do tasks that once seemed uniquely human. The goal of Learning Curve is to inform a conversation about what it means to learn, whether AI could improve education, and which learning needs protecting amid the AI gold rush. Look for the first episode August 20. EPISODE CREDITS: Reported and produced by Jeff Young Music by Komiku ©Copyright 2026 Learning Curve Productions LLC