The number of times I've heard someone quote, "but Chat said this" is frightening.
Priten Soundar-Shah
@priten.org
Author of Ethical Ed Tech (forthcoming). I write about what happens when humanistic values meet frontier technology: in schools, in policy, in practice. 📬 Newsletter: read.priten.org 🎙️ Podcast: listen.priten.org 📖 Book: ethicaledtech.org
Everyone is talking about ethics. But what, if anything, does it actually represent?
Day 45 since launch. The resource library is open to anyone. Discussion guides, slide decks, handouts, and policy templates. Growing through the summer.
Schools are losing trust with parents by treating the uncertainty and fear around AI as internal matters only.
Day 40 since launch. The summer leadership certificate cohort is open. Six weeks for school and district leaders to build a real ethics policy while earning the credential.
When it comes to tech integrations in education, we have to avoid the pendulum swing of extremes.
"Feedback is skewed based on perceptions of the child's race or gender. Especially if it's being used in high-stakes contexts, we should make sure that parents are being informed of it." My comments to ParentMap on AI in K-12.
https://www.parentmap.com/education/coalition-parents-push-back-ai-classrooms/
parentmap.com
Just because technology can do something doesn't mean we automatically stop teaching students how to do that thing.
Ninety percent of faculty surveyed by the AAC&U last fall said generative AI will diminish students' critical thinking.
In schools, the data and privacy questions about AI are the ones we know how to handle. There's legislation, vetting processes, precedent. The harder question, the one we keep avoiding, is what we actually want for our students.
Some schools have been hoping things will settle down before drafting an AI strategy.
A lot of people avoid talking about values in education because they assume it has to turn into a fight. On Spirit Gym, Paul Chek and I landed somewhere more useful.
As screen time concerns rise, we might need to reframe how we view the physical classroom.
A flashcard app that builds your deck for you removes the one step that was actually doing the work. Deciding what goes on the card is where the learning happens.
Big Tech treats the classroom like another consumer product, and it carries over three instincts that don't transfer.
Tech pitches can be overwhelming when they are inundating inboxes, conferences, and professional education, but we must remember: "Just because we can doesn't mean we should."
New Authority Magazine interview on improving US education. The line I keep returning to: "Teaching is fundamentally a human endeavor, and it is about good relationships." We optimize for what we can measure instead of deciding what we value first.
https://medium.com/authority-magazine/priten-soundar-shah-of-pedagogy-ventures-5-things-that-should-be-done-to-improve-the-us-674059bce083
medium.com
🎙️ Just published a new episode of Margin of Thought with Priten: What Do Children Learn from Violent Media? - Brad Bushman. Have a listen:
What Do Children Learn from Violent Media? - Brad Bushman
In this episode, Priten speaks with Brad Bushman, professor of...
share.transistor.fm
🎙️ Just published a new episode of Margin of Thought with Priten: Should We Rethink the Liberal Arts in the Age of AI? --Anand Rao. Have a listen:
Should We Rethink the Liberal Arts in the Age of AI? --Anand Rao
Listen to this episode of Margin of Thought with Priten
share.transistor.fm
In response to the push for speed from the tech world, the right response for educators is to slow down, not speed up. It's counterintuitive for most folks, but slowing down will help us actually figure out how much we need to speed up, and what exactly needs to change to deal with external speed.
Day 20 since launch. Talk back to the case studies. The AI discussion tool walks staff through structured conversations with the stakeholders themselves.
There are rarely perfect solutions where everyone wins; instead, we must learn to name and navigate competing values. These are decisions that involve what legal theorists term tragic choices.
Harvard's faculty voted to cap A's at 20% of enrollment. Yale's Committee on Trust in Higher Education wants a 3.0 mean GPA and percentile ranks on transcripts.
Rod Berger PsyD wrote about our recent Quantum Leap conversation in his latest N2N Services newsletter, alongside two articles on AI in student services. His throughline: the problem was never the intelligence, it was the routing.
Quoted in Newsweek on China's national AI education push and what it surfaces about U.S. fragmentation: "Beijing can kind of set out the agenda... We don't really have an equivalent of that here." Matthew Tostevin's full piece, with Squirrel Ai at the center.
If we really want our teachers to support students through the changes AI is bringing to society, we need to change our professional development models.
Day 15 since launch. Case study workbooks are open to anyone. Built for staff PD, leadership teams, and graduate seminars.
On The Early Edition (CKFR Kelowna) Friday on Vancouver's plan to put Microsoft Copilot in classrooms for students 13 and up. My concern: pursuing every form of integration rather than thinking through which ones actually serve students.
https://www.am1150.ca/podcast/ai-chatbots-are-coming-to-bc-classrooms-but-should-they-be/
am1150.ca
Quoted in The Tyee on Vancouver School Board's Copilot rollout to students 13+. "Even something you might have taught a senior in high school in 2023 for how to use AI is completely irrelevant for 2026."
https://www.thetyee.ca/News/2026/05/28/AI-Chatbots-Coming-BC-Classrooms/
thetyee.ca
"First, do no harm. A clear North Star for how our communities must thoughtfully and ethically engage with AI." Jason R. Williams.