19: AI Tutoring & K-12 Education

Today’s disagreement is on AI tutoring and K-12 Education. How will AI tutoring benefit struggling and high achieving students? Will it enable personalized learning pathways for students?

Two education experts come together for a longform, productive disagreement about whether AI is going to usher in a new era of personalized learning – and whether that is a good thing.

Niels Hoven is the Founder and CEO of Mentava, a software company committed to accelerating learning for top-performing students. Mentava’s first product is a software-based tutor, designed to teach preschool students how to read.

Benjamin Riley is the founder of Cognitive Resonance, a new venture dedicated to improving understanding of human cognition and generative AI. Previously, he founded and served as CEO of Deans for Impact, a nonprofit education organization working to improve teacher training through the use of cognitive science.

Show Notes

• Reflections on personalized learning 15 years in [03:00]
• AI and the new path to personalized learning [05:02]
• The risk of moving away from collective learning [06:47]
• Theory of mind considerations [10:10]
• Bill gates and the dream of AI in Ed [15:17]
• The future of ungated learning [17:15]
• The danger of magnifying differences [20:12]
• The 5% problem [22:15]
• Engagement and learning [23:40]
• Balancing AI risks and benefits [30:09]
• Is our current system working or failing [33:05]
• What should we be improving [36:32]
• The joy of effortful thinking [38:01]
• Steelmanning [40:20]

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