I find Artificial Intelligence wildly frustrating but as a particularly interesting topic in education given how new and controversial it is. Personally, I really dislike the idea of using AI in the classroom for anything except to teach how to use AI responsibly. I firmly feel there is no reason to have AI in a language arts class because there is nothing the AI is doing that is A. more effective than traditional instructional methods done by humans, B. more genuine than the authenticity of human creation / literature, and C. so useful that is worth the waste of energy/environmental resources. I also find it quite dangerous to encourage the use of AI amongst our students because the more we use it with them the more we send a message that this should be normalized. I really hated the sheep activity from the presentation for this reason, but I was more open to the cookie one.

I did, however, like the idea of using AI as a tool for discussing what would it might consider “the best” choice. Does best mean highest reviewed? Most delicious? Healthiest? That kind of lesson creates reflection and awareness around how AI functions and is trained as well as health messaging and food choices, which I think is more worthwhile.