Climbing the AI Learning Curve with Jeff Young

We are thrilled to welcome a fellow podcaster and longtime education journalist, Jeff Young, to the show. Many know Jeff's work from his time hosting the weekly EdSurge Podcast, where he was a consistent voice covering the intersection of technology and learning. Now, Jeff is out on his own and has launched a new project to tackle the biggest story in education: AI and the fundamental questions it raises about what it means to learn.

Jeff and Mike dive into his extensive background—from his early days at The Chronicle of Higher Education covering the dawn of the internet on college campuses to his time building EdSurge's higher ed coverage and producing over 300 episodes of the EdSurge podcast. We explore how that history prepared him for this current moment, where AI feels different and more "existential" than previous tech disruptions like MOOCs.

Jeff's new podcast, Learning Curve (LearningCurve.fm) is his attempt to cut through the hype and inform a critical conversation about how education adapts to AI and what kinds of learning need protecting in the "AI gold rush". We discuss the frameworks and mental models needed to navigate this new "agentic era", focusing on both the critical questions and the potential for a positive upside.

• AI is an "Internet-Level Disruption" with Existential Questions: Unlike previous trends like MOOCs, which questioned the delivery of education, AI forces us to ask deep questions about the value of college, how to prove student knowledge, and the very nature of learning when generative AI can perform tasks once thought to be uniquely human.

• Reframing the AI Role: We need to critically examine the narratives around AI in education, such as the idea of an "AI tutor". Jeff questions if AI's capabilities—like providing content or getting students unstuck—are truly "tutoring" or something valuable but distinctly non-human, and whether labeling it as a tutor risks pushing out high-value human interaction.

• The Power of "Hybrid Intelligence": A key mental model for navigating this time is hybrid intelligence, which focuses on harnessing the power of Large Language Models (LLMs) and blending it with what makes us human, extending our brains and expressing our human capabilities to the best.

• Seeking Killer Apps Beyond the Classroom: Jeff is actively looking for high-impact use cases for AI in higher education outside of cheating and basic classroom functions. A promising area is college advising, where AI can quickly handle the bureaucracy and information lookup, freeing up human advisors for more high-value, personal connection time that is crucial for student success.

• Student Involvement in Adoption is Key: Universities like Babson College are smartly involving students—who are highly motivated to understand AI due to its impact on entry-level jobs—in the strategy for campus-wide AI adoption. This approach aligns with the growing truism that "AI won't take your job; somebody who doesn't know AI's job will".

This is a vital, grounded conversation that moves past the hype and dystopian fears to help you build a constructive framework for thinking about the future of learning.

• Get a historical perspective on the wave of technology hitting education from one of the industry's most respected journalists.

• Learn the essential questions about human skills, cognitive models, and what learning needs protecting in this new era.

• Gain a balanced view of AI's potential, from how it can change college bureaucracy to its power to augment human capabilities.

Find more of Jeff's work at LearningCurve.fm or wherever you listen to podcasts.

If you like what you hear, subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss a critical conversation like this one.