The AI Who Taught Me
Can a robot really teach? The AI Who Taught Me is a weekly podcast that explores how artificial intelligence is changing classrooms—sometimes for better, sometimes not. Hosted by Luke Shepard and his AI co-host Emerald, each episode investigates the real-world impact of AI on how we learn.
Can a robot really teach? The AI Who Taught Me is a weekly podcast that explores how artificial intelligence is changing classrooms—sometimes for better, sometimes not. Hosted by Luke Shepard and his AI co-host Emerald, each episode investigates the real-world impact of AI on how we learn.
Episodes

Friday May 02, 2025
#1: Do Chatbots Help Students Learn?
Friday May 02, 2025
Friday May 02, 2025
In this kickoff episode, host Luke Shepard and his AI co-host Emerald dive into how AI is entering classrooms. We will be looking at how AI is used in classrooms, starting with some recent research out of Harvard, Standford and Penn.
Studies
We look at four studies published in the last year:
Pew Research study on use of chatbots in school. About a quarter of US teens have used ChatGPT for schoolwork
A pre-print of the pilot in the Harvard Physics class in which students used a chatbot to help with studying. AI Tutoring Outperforms Active Learning
From University of Pennsylvania, How kids who used ChatGPT did better on practice but worse on the eventual tests. Kids who use ChatGPT as a study assistant do worse on tests
Stanford saw gains from a study of 1,800 students across multiple school districts in the use of a new AI tutor assistant. How AI can improve tutor effectiveness and the paper PDF
Further Listening:
Listen to this recent interview between Jane Rosenzweig and Michael Horn about how AI is affecting writing.
Sal Khan's TED talk: How AI Could Save and Not Destroy Education


