In this week's episode of the AI and Education Podcast, Ray and Dan dive into one of the most chaotic – and entertaining – weeks in AI news so far. From councils losing millions to AI-powered scams to the idea of having a "family safe word," this one swings between hilarious and hair-raising.
They unpack what's new in AI assessment research - including TEQSA's AI guidance for universities, the "wicked problem" of AI and assessment, and why Turnitin's detection tools are under fire (again). You'll hear how South Australia's EdChat report shows teachers and students deepening their learning with AI, and which countries are quietly leading the world in classroom AI use (spoiler: it's not who you think).
Plus, a few surprise stats on politeness and prompt-writing - turns out being rude to AI might actually get better results.
We've just arrived on YouTube and TikTok!
YT Channel - the podcast in video form, and Shorts https://www.youtube.com/@aiineducationpodcast
TikTok https://tiktok.com/@aipodcast.educati
Links to news items discussed
AI Safety https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-14/noosa-council-scam-mayor-blames-ai-imitation/105887962
Mike Tholfsen's Microsoft 365 Copilot Tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbOJliF-Cn4
South Australia's Edchat Insights Report https://www.education.sa.gov.au/docs/ict/edchat-insights-report.pdf
Enacting assessment reform in a time of artificial intelligence https://www.teqsa.gov.au/guides-resources/resources/corporate-publications/enacting-assessment-reform-time-artificial-intelligence And the link to 'Assessment reform for the age of artificial intelligence' - https://www.teqsa.gov.au/guides-resources/resources/corporate-publications/assessment-reform-age-artificial-intelligence
Syracuse University gives Claude Education to all students and staff https://news.syr.edu/2025/09/22/syracuse-university-among-first-universities-to-provide-campuswide-ai-access-to-anthropics-claude-for-education/
Jordan - the whole country, one man chat app for education https://x.com/cryptoprio/status/1974040334737846279?s=46&t=p57lLRpTCXGNBiwhIjsl7Q
California Community Colleges also rolling out Nectir to staff and students https://www.axios.com/local/san-francisco/2025/10/06/california-community-colleges-ai-nectir-tutors
2025 "State of AI" report https://www.stateof.ai/
Oxford University Press report on AI use by UK school students https://fdslive.oup.com/www.oup.com/oxed/secondary/Teaching_the_AI_Native_Generation.pdf?internal=true
OECD's latest Teaching and Learning International Survey https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/results-from-talis-2024_90df6235-en.html
University wrongly accuses students of using artificial intelligence to cheat https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-09/artificial-intelligence-cheating-australian-catholic-university/105863524
ACU's checklist for spotting AI written text: https://staff.acu.edu.au/our_university/news/2025/march/turnitin-ai-indicator-tool
And in researching this, I also stumbled across the Wikipedia page "Signs of AI Writing" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Signs_of_AI_writing And that includes things like "LLMs overuse the rule of three - 'the good, the bad and the ugly'"; the use of Title Case; and our old friends em dashes and emojis. And if you really want to go down the rabbit hole, read the 'Talk' tab on that page, were people are discussing their own opinions/beliefs on this.
Research
The wicked problem of AI and assessment https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02602938.2025.2553340
Reimagining the Artificial Intelligence Assessment Scale: A refined framework for educational assessment https://open-publishing.org/journals/index.php/jutlp/article/view/1707
Assessment Twins: A Protocol for AI-Vulnerable Summative Assessment https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.02929
Heads we win, tails you lose: AI detectors in education. https://osf.io/preprints/edarxiv/93w6j_v1
What Does YouTube Advise Students About Bypassing AIText Detection Tools? A Pragmatic Analysis https://link.springer.com/epdf/10.1007/s10805-025-09675-3? sharing_token=kzKMqOrKt2K7wqe8A4GjkPe4RwlQNchNByi7wbcMAY4_QVVFXJUooOb6QsKcPKSMAsHQtQeY4Cum-OXBICfYzSVfT9TAv2Z95XVx8D3vm13plNOq1vh5iCbse0XidDrUCW182PR7BzDUTrlz7Gv1UGB5U-ao_gJKy9vc-WRHd_U%3D
Mind Your Tone: Investigating How Prompt Politeness Affects LLM Accuracy https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.04950