Why AI Might Not Change Education Much at All (with Justin Reich)

“AI will revolutionize education!”

“No, it will destroy it!”

Well, which is it?

If history is any guide, the impact will be limited in either direction. In this episode, MIT education researcher Justin Reich (tsl.mit.edu/team/justin-reich) walks through a century of hype cycles — from filmstrips and radio to MOOCs and smartphones — to show what actually changed in classrooms, and what didn’t. Drawing oninterviews with 120 teachers and students (teachlabpodcast.com/the-homework-machine-ep-1-…) across the U.S., he explains why new tools tend to extend old habits, why gains from new technology are usually modest, and why they tend to benefit affluent schools most. (Part 2/2 in our back-to-school series.)

Life, Automated is a production of the Ryan Institute on Complexity, at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. The host is Jess Love, senior director. Distributed by KQED.

Producer: Jesse Dukes (jessedukes.com)

Music: Steven Jackson (stevenbjackson.com)

Associate Producer: Stacia Sliger

Recording: George Christensen and Will Feeney

Promotional help from Ananya Mallapragada and Charlotte Simmons.