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Make America AI-Ready

Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Labor announced the launch of “Make America AI-Ready,” a free artificial intelligence literacy course that will help American workers learn the basics of AI simply by texting “READY” to 20202.

Highly-Cited “AI Erodes Critical Thinking” Study Appears To Be AI Generated Slop

This week, I want to highlight a substack post critiquing a recent research article. The author critically examines a widely referenced paper claiming that increased AI use degrades critical thinking skills. Pookins argues that the study’s design and methodology are fundamentally flawed: the sample isn’t representative, the survey measures self-reported beliefs rather than actual critical thinking performance, and many items intended to measure different constructs are essentially redundant. Because of these flaws, he asserts that the paper does not provide reliable evidence that AI use causes a decline in critical thinking, meaning that its frequent citation in media and academic discussions may be misleading or premature. Moreover, he points to evidence that the paper itself may have been AI-generated.

AI Pedagogy Project

The AI Pedagogy Project is a free, open-access resource developed by metaLAB (at) Harvard that helps educators understand and engage with generative AI — particularly large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT — in a thoughtful, critical, and pedagogically informed way. Its “AI Guide” walks users step-by-step through what generative AI is, how LLMs work, and what their strengths and limitations are; it then offers a hands-on “LLM Tutorial,” letting faculty experiment with AI tools directly, and a comparison module for evaluating different models side-by-side.

AI-Supported Civil Discourse

Sway is a chat platform that connects students with differing perspectives into one-on-one conversations and facilitates better discussions between them. Developed with Heterodox Academy and inspired by John Stuart Mill’s radical view that engaging with opposing perspectives is an essential tool for improving reasoning and solving complex problems, Sway aims to create online spaces where we can all learn to discuss controversial issues more openly and constructively.

Guide your students on the use of AI for learning

While there are mixed feelings about generative AI among faculty and students, it’s undeniable that AI is not going away and will continue to become embedded in all aspects of life. Even if students choose not to use it, they still need to understand how it works and ethical implications of its use. Who is going to teach them this?

Create custom holiday messages

You may or may not be ready to use generative AI for teaching and learning, but there are so many other uses. These large language models are really good with language, so if you need something well-written in a short amount of itme, try out one of the AI tools we have access to, like Gemini, Copilot, or Perplexity.