Summer reading: ai in education
Written By: Christian Talbot, President & CEO, MSA
Given how quickly the AI landscape changes, it might seem counterintuitive to invest time in reading books on the subject. Yet a handful of books will reward your attention.
And at least one book on AI in education is not worth bothering with.
As you head into the summer with more time to read, I hope you’ll find these recommendations useful.
MUST READS
Co Intelligence, by Ethan Mollick
Since late 2022, Mollick has been the most thoughtful writer on generative AI. He constantly experiments, he's a great teacher, and he’s married to and collaborates with Lila Mollick, an expert in instructional design. Although he teaches at Wharton, much of what he says about AI in education is applicable to a high school setting. Just as important, this book addresses the implications of AI for entire organizations. And for what it’s worth, it’s a fast, easy, practical read.
I, Human, by Tomas Chamorro-Premuzik
My copy of this book is filled with post-it notes, highlights, and marginalia related to Middle States’ commitment to fostering school evolution that is human-led and AI-informed. Chamorro-Premuzik understands that AI represents not just a technological transformation, but also a challenge to our human identities. I have yet to read a book that so clearly aligns with every school’s mission to form the whole student.
STRONGLY RECOMMENDED
The Coming Wave, by Mustafa Suleyman
Suleyman was one of the founders of DeepMind, a company that created the breakthrough AlphaFold prediction engine. AlphaFold identified the 3D structures of proteins associated with COVID-19, which in turn enabled the first wave of CV-19 vaccines. Suleyman’s hard science credentials are impressive, but I loved even more his focus on human development, political economy, and the psycho-social issues at play with “the coming wave” of AI advancement. Note: the book paints some terrifying, plausible scenarios, but Suleyman also explains what "containment" could look like, so it's hopeful too.
Education for the Age of AI, by Charles Fadel et al.
After seeing Tom Vander Ark’s recommendation of this book and after listening to his interview of the author, I was convinced I needed to read it. Fadel presents an elegant curriculum model that does not depend on AI, but that is supercharged because of AI. If you’re a curriculum or instruction person, this book is for you. More importantly, if you’re the leader who drives the vision for what great learning looks like at your school, this book will either change your thinking or affirm your early adopter work.
RECOMMENDED
AI 2041, by Kai Fu Lee and Chen Qiufan
A collection of short stories about life in the year 2041. The stories tend to feel didactic… but that's exactly the point. Lee—a long-time expert in AI—generated the concepts for the stories and asked fiction writer Qiufan to generate the narratives. (Sounds like the interaction with a LLM!) After each story, Lee explains how the seeds of the stories’ technologies exist right now. This book is not about flying cars, but rather the vectors of today’s LLMs, optical character readers, biohacking, etc. Some school is going to create an amazing interdisciplinary class on this book co-taught by English, History, and Computer Science.
NOT RECOMMENDED!
Brave New Words, by Sal Khan
At best, this book is a sales pitch for KhanMigo. I highlighted four passages—and to be fair, those passages were great. But I can scan them over to you and save you 220 out of 222 pages of reading.
What books on AI and education would you recommend? Let me know!
