Thoughts on AI, Cognition, and Human DevelopmentPerspectives on Learning
Perspectives features analysis from thought leaders, researchers, and practicing educators who are committed to defining the future of humanity-centered learning.
Protecting the Developing Mind: AI Ethics & Cognitive Privacy
The research framework on what surveillance and AI do to the conditions children learn inside.
Anthropomorphizing AI: The Same Mistake at Both Ends of a Life
A child reads "we're soulmates" from a companion app and something in her registers it as true. She may know it's fake. That does not switch off the attachment, and it is why "it's just a chatbot" is not enough for the adults in her life.
AI is Making Disagreement Impossible
61% of school leaders now report receiving AI-generated complaints. When a parent routes a disagreement through a machine, what gets offloaded is not the writing but the relationship, and children learn by watching that a hard conversation is something you can hand off rather than have.
The Comfort of False Analogies
In every conference session and staff meeting, you hear the same three comparisons: AI is like the printing press, the calculator, or Google Search. But these analogies are fundamentally flawed. Comparing tools that externalized mechanical tasks to a technology that externalizes human reasoning is a dangerous permission structure for institutional inaction, especially when it comes to the developing minds of children.
The App Saw You Delete That
When a student deletes a draft or abandons a search, they believe that moment is gone. It isn’t. Through pre-upload scanning, platforms are "watching users think," converting private insecurities and hesitations into behavioral data. We analyze how this architecture of total observation threatens the "fresh start" once guaranteed to every child and replaces cognitive autonomy with performative compliance.