This week, Dan and Ray dive into a whirlwind of AI news shaking up the education world. From $40K private schools with AI tutors to universities reporting chatbot-driven grade boosts, they unpack what’s hype and what’s happening. Plus, they explore the ethics of AI image generation, energy use in data centers, and whether GPT-4.5 is now officially more human than human. News Alpha School - AI school in Texas News report: https://www.foxnews.com/media/texas-private-schools-use-ai-tutor-rockets-student-test-scores-top-2-country https://alpha.school/ Macquarie University students’ exam scores up by nearly 10 per cent thanks to new AI-powered chatbotMicrosoft case study: https://news.microsoft.com/source/asia/2025/03/24/macquarie-university-students-exam-scores-up-by-nearly-10-per-cent-thanks-to-new-ai-powered-chatbot/ Building an AI-Enabled Workforce: Impacts for Finance, Technology and Business Education and Training  https://www.futureskillsorganisation.com.au/building-an-ai-enabled-workforce-impacts-for-finance-technology-and-business-education-and-training The Future of Jobs Report 2025 from World Economic Forum  https://www.weforum.org/publications/the-future-of-jobs-report-2025/digest/ OpenAI Academy https://academy.openai.com  Anthropic launched Claude for Education https://www.anthropic.com/news/introducing-claude-for-education  Open AI image generation announcement https://openai.com/index/introducing-4o-image-generation/    Report: Australia’s renewables can power AI and slash energy costs https://www.innovationaus.com/australias-renewables-can-power-ai-and-slash-energy-costs/  UTS Transdisciplinary Innovation course https://www.uts.edu.au/for-students/transdisciplinary-innovation  Research The Cybernetic Teammate: A Field Experiment on Generative AI Reshaping Teamwork and Expertise https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5188231  Large Language Models Pass the Turing Test https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.23674  News report: https://futurism.com/ai-model-turing-test 

Yet again, Dan and Ray are the podcast hosts, but Ray’s AI digital twin introduces the episode! This week's guests are: Lee Barrett – Prompt Engineer and AI Advocate at CEnet. Prem Radhakrishnan – AI Technical Manager at CEnet. This episode is a two-level deep dive into the development and deployment of CEchat, an AI-powered chatbot designed to reduce teacher workload and enhance student learning across Catholic schools in Australia. Part 1 of the episode covers the vision, pedagogy, and implementation strategy with both Lee and Prem. Part 2 is a more technical discussion between Dan and Prem, covering codebase customisation, infrastructure, scale, security, and integration. CEchat is an extended school-level implementation of Cogniti, the multi-award-winning open source chatbot from The University of Sydney. We interviewed Danny Liu about the project in this episode: https://aipodcast.education/the-university-of-sydneys-cogniti-ai-bot  They also discussed the Rome Call for AI Ethics, which you'll find here: https://www.romecall.org/  

News Stories Covered in the Episode AI Typing Like a Human? – Graham Clay’s LinkedIn post on ChatGPT Operator mimicking human keystrokes https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7292163775963557888/ The Vatican on AI Ethics – “Antiqua et Nova” report on AI, human intelligence, and ethics in education Sacerdotus: Vatican's New Document on AI: Ethical Guidelines and Human Responsibility Australian Government’s AI Study – Treasury report on Microsoft 365 Copilot, estimating it pays for itself if it saves 13 minutes per week Treasury M365 Copilot review estimates 13-minute efficiency gain needed to justify licence cost - Software - iTnews California State University & AI – Providing 500,000 stuents access to ChatGPT Edu https://openai.com/index/openai-and-the-csu-system/ Estonia’s AI Strategy – National AI policy giving all students access to AI tutors https://openai.com/index/estonia-schools-and-chatgpt/ Australia’s New National AI Centre Director – ex-podcast co-host Lee Hicken appointed to lead the centre. For those keeping count, that's the second of the podcast hosts that's now at NAIC, with current hosts Dan & Ray still waiting for the call 😂 https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7306940399086903296/ Manus AI Release – A new AI system focused on reasoning and conversation McKay Wrigley's X post Research Papers Discussed "From chalkboards to chatbots: Transforming learning in Nigeria, one prompt at a time" – World Bank blog on AI tutoring in Nigeria, claiming two years of learning gains in six weeks. https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/education/From-chalkboards-to-chatbots-Transforming-learning-in-Nigeria   We discussed Ethan Mollick's LinkedIn post focusing on the multiple controlled experiments showing that students can be helped or harmed based on how they use AI “AI Meets the Classroom: When Does ChatGPT Harm Learning?” – Study on ChatGPT’s impact on learning; found that using AI without explanations led to weaker long-term retention. https://arxiv.org/pdf/2409.09047v1 “Generative AI Can Help Learning” – AI tutors improve test results but can hinder deeper learning if students rely too much on direct answers https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4895486 “Effective and Scalable Math Support: Experimental  Evidence on the Impact of an AI- Math Tutor in Ghana” – AI tutor via WhatsApp in Ghana increased learning by the equivalent of one extra school year at $5 per student https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/2402/2402.09809.pdf “Generative AI in higher education: A global perspective of institutional adoption policies and guidelines” – Study on university AI policies worldwide; most encourage AI use but lack clarity on inclusivity and transparency https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666920X24001516

In this episode of AI in Education, Dan and Ray sit down with Leigh Williams, CIO of Brisbane Catholic Education, to dive into one of the most ambitious AI rollouts in Australian schools. With 78,000 students and 13,000 staff, Leigh and her team implemented Microsoft Copilot at scale—reducing teacher workloads by 9+ hours per week and even boosting teacher recruitment. But it’s not just about efficiency. Leigh shares how AI is reshaping learning, tackling the digital divide, and even reducing student stress. We also explore the ethics of AI in education, Brisbane Catholic Education’s commitment to the Vatican’s "Rome Call" for AI ethics, and why gender balance in AI leadership still has a long way to go. We also have a fascinating discussion about other ways that they are using technology to support learning, including FisherOne, their online school. Training resources Leigh talks extensively about the effort they have put into training and support for their teachers and students, and we wanted to share some of the Microsoft resources we know are useful if you're rolling out Copilot to your school: Microsoft Learn: Enhance teaching and learning with Microsoft Copilot Microsoft Adopt: Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat resources for education

Dan and Ray welcome Graham Brown Martin, a seasoned expert in education technology, for a very(!) thought-provoking conversation about navigating education in the rapidly evolving age of artificial intelligence. In this episode: Discover Graham's journey through multiple technological revolutions—from early mainframes and pioneering laser-disc technology to modern-day AI. Hear stories from Graham's past, including his role in bringing together provocative figures like Katherine Birbalsingh and Malcolm McLaren to challenge the status quo in education. Reflect on the historical context of industrial revolutions and their ongoing influence on our current educational systems. Understand why Graham argues that education is still stuck in outdated 19th-century practices and how the pandemic reinforced rather than changed this dynamic. Explore why Graham believes relational skills, creativity, empathy, and human collaboration will define education and employment in the fifth industrial revolution. Graham's call to action? Shifting educational and economic models to prioritise human-centric skills and societal value.   Find out more about Graham on his website: GrahamBrownMartin.com Follow Graham on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grahambrownmartin/ 

Dr. Nici Sweaney, founder of "AI Her Way" and a champion for gender equality, shares her remarkable journey from butterfly ecology to AI consulting. She discusses the importance of ethical AI strategies in education, emphasizing AI literacy for educators and students. Nici highlights the impact of AI on equity, particularly regarding women's representation, and stresses the need for diverse voices in AI design. With a focus on Australia's unique challenges, she advocates for clear strategies to integrate AI in schools responsibly.

In this episode, Ray and Dan are joined by Danny Bielik, President of the Digital Education Council, to discuss the findings of a global AI faculty survey. With insights from 52 institutions across 28 countries, Danny shares how higher education faculty are adopting AI, the biggest concerns around academic integrity and assessment, and why AI literacy is still a challenge for many. Key topics include: 🔹 The real impact of AI on teaching and learning 🔹 How universities are using AI for teaching materials and admin 🔹 The debate on AI and job security for faculty 🔹 Why assessment and academic integrity need a rethink 🔹 How institutions can benchmark their AI strategies 📌 Links & Resources: 📄 Download the Global AI Faculty Survey Report 🌍 Learn more about the Digital Education Council 🔗 Follow Danny Bielik on LinkedIn

Book Club Podcast? Before we even got to the News and Research, this week we discussed the AI-related books we're currently reading: Dan's reading: Where Good Ideas Come From, by Steven Johnson (TED Talk) Why Data Science Projects Fail, by Douglas Gray and Evan Shellshear (An interview with Evan) Ray's reading  The Atlas of AI: Power, Politics, and the Planetary Costs of Artificial Intelligence, by Kate Crawford (Wikipedia page) News Links Links to the reports and news we discuss in the episode: OpenAI's new Education newsletter https://openaiforeducation.substack.com/ Ethan Mollick's new "AI in Education: Leveraging ChatGPT for Teaching" course on Coursera https://www.coursera.org/learn/wharton-ai-in-education-leveraging-chatgpt-for-teaching World Economic Forum "Future of Jobs report" https://www.weforum.org/publications/the-future-of-jobs-report-2025/infographics-94b6214b36/ Student expelled and deported because they were accused of using ChatGPT by their professor. So they're suing their professor https://www.fox9.com/video/1574324 Digital Education Council Global AI Faculty Survey 2025 https://www.digitaleducationcouncil.com/post/digital-education-council-global-ai-faculty-survey We'll discuss this report with one of the authors in next week's episode UK government policy paper on "Generative artificial intelligence (AI) in education" https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/generative-artificial-intelligence-in-education/generative-artificial-intelligence-ai-in-education Year13 Case Study on AI use https://news.microsoft.com/en-au/2024/12/13/guiding-school-leavers-with-ai-support-year13s-mission-to-democratise-opportunities-for-young-people/ AI Use by industry employees - US, 2024 https://www.nber.org/papers/w32966 In the discussion of energy use by AI, Ray mentioned some stats from this research report: "The Carbon Emissions of Writing and Illustrating Are Lower for AI than for Humans"  https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/2303/2303.06219.pdf Research Papers And finally, links to the research papers we discussed this week ChatGPT and Its Educational Impact: Insights from a Software Development Competition https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.03779  How to Align Large Language Models for Teaching English? Designing and Developing LLM based-Chatbot for Teaching English Conversation in EFL, Findings and Limitations https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.04987  AI Meets the Classroom: When Does ChatGPT Harm Learning? https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.09047  Are Large Language Models Good Essay Graders? https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.13120  An Education Researcher's Guide to ChatGPT https://osf.io/spbz3  A Step Towards Adaptive Online Learning: Exploring the Role of GPT as Virtual Teaching Assistants in Online Education https://osf.io/preprints/edarxiv/rw45b  The AI Assessment Scale (AIAS) in action: A pilot implementation of GenAI-supported assessment https://ajet.org.au/index.php/AJET/article/view/9434     

This week we get to catch up with Katie Ford of Microsoft Australia, who tells us about the projects that have been happening in AI in Education around Australia, and shares some of the lessons learnt from the projects as well as what she is learning through her own research focus. The examples Katie discusses are: Tasmania Department of Education: Collaborated with Microsoft to enhance their data estate and prepare for AI applications aimed at identifying vulnerable children during COVID, helping to reveal overlooked demographics and improve interventions. University of New South Wales (UNSW): Engaged in multiple initiatives including embedding AI intelligence into complex institutional systems and processes, and developing the Academic Success Monitor to predict and intervene early with students disengaging from education. This proactive outreach is personalised and has shown positive impacts on student success rates. South Australia Department of Education: Pioneered the use of generative AI in classrooms, equipping educators with AI tools to enhance teaching and learning, making it one of the first in the world to adopt such technology at this scale. New South Wales Department of Education: Implemented AI thoughtfully to support educators, focusing on significant time savings and improved experiences in the classroom, with a commitment to reducing teacher workloads by five hours weekly. NSWEduChat Brisbane Catholic Education: Conducted a successful pilot with Microsoft Copilot, saving educators an average of 9.3 hours per week, which led to a wider rollout across the board to boost productivity and support staff well-being.  Brisbane Catholic Education to deploy Microsoft 365 Copilot to 12,500 educators and support staff, in largest rollout for K-12 globally - Microsoft Australia News Centre University of Sydney: Developed Cogniti to enable academics to control generative AI usage within their courses, facilitating the creation and monitoring of AI agents to enhance educational delivery and student monitoring. Torrens University: Used Azure OpenAI to overhaul their Learning Management System, addressing user experience feedback, enhancing accessibility, and saving both cost and labour significantly. Of course, we get diverted off course along the way, with a mention of platypus spotting, and Ray's visceral hatred of automated supermarket tills gets ha mention

And we're back! After a relaxing summer holiday Down Under (the school year finishes late December and doesn't restart until after the end of January in Australia) we've made it back to the studio to talk again. In this first episode of the 2025 'AI in Education' podcast, hosts Dan Bowen and Ray Fleming reflect on the major events and developments in AI during 2024. They discuss the importance of continuously addressing the adoption gap, the evolution of AI tools, and the pace of change in AI technology, exemplified by recent announcements like Project Stargate and DeepSeq. The episode transitions to predictions for 2025, where they foresee the year being dominated by the rise of AI agents, increased research on AI's efficacy, and the exploration of AI's role in education. They also emphasised the need for ongoing experiments and adaptability in organisations to keep up with rapid advancements.