Here We Go Again! The Educational Hype and Promise of Generative AI in Education is a Re-Run I've Seen Before

 "Across the sciences and society, in politics and education, in warfare and commerce, new technologies do not merely augment our abilities, but actively shape and direct them, for better or worse. It is increasingly necessary to be able to think of new technologies in different ways, and to be critical of them, in order to meaningfully participate in that shaping and directing." p. 2 New Dark Age: Technology and the End of the Future, James Bridle

Educators are jumping on the next-best-thing...Generative Artificial Intelligence, or AI. The workshops, PD offerings, conferences, and key notes abound everywhere you look. There is money to be made and careers to be made on this latest "Silicon Valley Miracle." But how could educators be duped again by the marketing and hype about this latest technological offering by the whiz-kid computer entrepreneurs from the West Coast? 

Did we, and have we not learned anything about the failure of such technologies and their promises, such as social media's promise to connect us and make us one unified, world community? Did we not just experience the massive remote learning flop that shows us that education is really about teachers and students connecting, in person? Now, educators everywhere are all ga-ga over Generative AI, singing its praises and indoctrinating their whole communities about its"unquestionable promise." What educators need to be doing is utilizing their intellect and asking critical questions about this new gadget, instead of blindly accepting it in awe.

Bridle was on to something when he pointed out that "New Technologies" do not just "augment our abilities" they "actively shape and direct them, for better or worse." This was true of social media specifically and the web generally. Technology has not just augmented our abilities to teach and learn; it has shaped how we do these things "for better or worse" and sometimes mostly "worse." Social media has divided us more than ever and also has made it easier for students to bully and be bullied. It negatively affects the mental health of our youth as well, so it has not just augmented our abilities to connect; it has shaped and directed who we connect with, how we connect with them, and not connect as well. 

Generative AI is absolutely no different. In spite of the AI evangelists who stand to gain much through its promotion, this technology will also shape us, as well as shape and direct how we do things too, for better or worse. But let's not just focus on "the better." Let's take a breather and focus on the potential worse things this technology is already doing and also explore carefully the unintended consequences that widespread adoption might bring. Don't just accept the "hyped-up" rhetoric about how "you are going to be left behind if you don't adopt." I've heard that tune before, it is stale. Take time. Think and be critical. Ask tough questions.

If we are going to be sane about Generative AI, we have to be critical of it. We need to do that so that we can participate in "shaping and directing" it as Bridle points out. We can sanely use technological tools without the evangelical hype spouted by both these companies and other educators and educational leaders who see this as a means to promote their own careers. You can call this thinking the thinking of Luddite if you wish, but this "Silicon-Valley Promise Story" is starting to sound like a rerun.

Shouldn't Real Leaders Invite Criticism of Their Ideas for Improvement Rather Than Jump to Buy-In?

John Ralston Saul’s book, Voltaire’s Bastards: The Dictatorship of Reason in the West, captures so well a “postmodern-postructural” idea about Ed Leadership as a field of “expertise” that I’ve been entertaining lately. That idea is how much of the time educational leadership, and even business leadership, silences critics, critique or criticism. In other words, all these guru models of reform talk more about “getting stake-holder buy-in” and “marketing the ideas or reforms” rather than actually inviting Criticism. I think Saul captures the real reason why this is so very well when he writes:

“Nothing frightens those in authority so much as criticism. Whether democrats or dictators, they are unable to accept that criticism is the most constructive tool available to any society because it is the best way to prevent error” (Saul, 1992, p. 8).

Education leaders like business leaders often run from and suppress criticism and the critic of their ideas for reform and improvement. They too easily dismiss objections and criticism as simply resistance. Could it not be that such resistance is valid?  

Instead they engage in “stakeholder-buy-in” as if their idea, programs, reforms, projects, etc. are inherently the best approach to solving the problem at hand. Because of this fear of the critic, critique, and criticism, most often evidenced by the silencing of critics, these leaders make the same errors and perpetuate the well-known pendulum swings in education due to the failure to allow critique and criticism of their agendas. As Saul points out, “criticism is the most constructive tool available” because it is the best way to "prevent error.” 

To prevent the massive waste of time and resources that often comes with these faddish waves of reform that hit education, there needs to much more space to allow for criticism. That’s why a critical educational leadership studies needs to be activated.

Before implementing any new programs, ideas, reforms…why not open a large space for criticism first? Real leaders don’t fear criticism, they invite it.

Saul’s arguments and prose against an unquestioned faith in Western rationality and reason are important for having intellectual leadership in education.

Saul, J. R. (1992). Voltaire’s Bastards: The Dictatorship of Reason in the West. Simon and Schuster: New York, NY.