What is the relationship between AI and human creativity? Will AI supercharge human innovation, amplifying our ability to discover and invent? Or will it replace human ingenuity altogether? Or are we entering a hybrid future where humans and AI combine in unexpected...
To thine own mind be true: Understanding cultural technologies, from cave walls to ChatGPT
For almost 12 years now we have been writing a column series for the journal TechTrends, exploring the intersection of technology, creativity, and learning. Recently, my colleagues and I have been diving deep into generative AI through conversations with scholars like...
On rejection: A mini-rant about current academic scholarship
It started with a rejection. That's nothing new - we academics collect rejections like kids collect Pokemon cards (or whatever it is that they collect these days). But rejection, if it must come, must be for the right reasons. This particular rejection hit...
The Mirror Cracked: AI, Poetry, and the Illusion of Depth
In a recent episode of Silver Lining for Learning on Hybrid Intelligence, I was going on about how AI systems are becoming increasingly sophisticated at mimicking human emotion and agency. Nothing new for readers of this blog - my usual concerns about synthetic...
AI’s Honey Trap: Why AI Tells Us What We Want to Hear
Leon Furze's blog post about AI sycophancy popped into my feed yesterday and got me thinking. In his post (worth reading in full) he pointed to some striking research from Anthropic showing how AI systems tend to agree with humans, even when the humans are wrong. The...
Mind Games: When AI Learns to Read Us
I had recently written about NotebookLM's podcast feature ["NotebookLM's Viral Secret"] and how eerily human it sounds. My friend Sean Leahy, fellow podcaster and futurist, pointed out the delicious irony: here's an AI deliberately adding hesitations, casual "umms,"...
New Course | Human Creativity x AI in Education: A Transdisciplinary Exploration by Design
DCI 691 (Spring 2025)Human Creativity x AI in Education: A Transdisciplinary Exploration by DesignInstructor Dr. Punya Mishra (punya[AT]asu.edu)Mondays 9 – 11:45 Tempe Short description This graduate-level course examines the dynamic interplay between human creativity...
Can Machines Stink? A Touring Test of Human Exceptionalism
My friend Leigh Wolf sent me the Journal of Imaginary Research's 2024 call for abstracts (note, abstracts not papers) on the theme of "Flourishing." Do check out the journal. It IS a hoot! I do plan to submit something to the journal. I mean how cool would that be......
Finding In/Sight: A Recursive Dance with AI
In this post, I share a conversation with Claude.AI (my words in purple, Claude's in blue) that began as a playful exploration of visual wordplay. What emerged was something unexpected - not about AI's lack of consciousness, which was never in doubt, but about the...
Announcing AIR|GPT: A New Podcast
I'm excited to share that I'm part of a new monthly podcast focused on generative AI in education (AIR|GPT) alongside some great colleagues and friends: Helen Crompton, Caroline Fell-Kurban, Liz Kolb, and Ruben Puentedura. The podcast is structured as an informal yet...
“They’re Not Allowed to Use That S**t”: AI’s Rewiring of Human Connection
I recently participated in a panel discussion organized by the Center for American Progress. Our conversation focused on the emerging impact of generative AI in classrooms. During the Q&A session, someone posted the following question: I am a designer / engineer...
Center for American Progress Webinar: AI in Education
I had the pleasure, this morning, of participating in a panel discussion organized by the Center for American Progress, titled Leveraging Technology To Equip K-12 Students for Success. Although the title covered a broad view of technology, our focus was specifically...
Building Character: When AI Plays Us
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." These words from Martin Luther King Jr. speak to something fundamentally human – the belief that...
Beyond Quick Fixes: What Teacher Prep Really Needs
The Center for Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) has a new report out, titled "AI is Evolving, but Teacher Prep is Lagging: A First Look at Teacher Preparation Program Responses to AI." This report, which you can read in its entirety here, raises important questions...
Chatting Alone: AI and the (Potential) Decline of Open Digital Spaces
Note: The image above is inspired by the cover of Time Magazine's 1983 Person of the Year issue - at the dawn of the personal computer age. Created using Adobe Photoshop and composed in Keynote Angela Gunder reached out to me recently about a project that she is...
Kern You Believe It? A Typographical Tango with AI
As someone who enjoys playing with images, words, and typography, I'm always seeking new ways to generate ideas. I recently tried an experiment: collaborating with an AI language model (Claude) on a series of typographical designs. It all started after I had created...
From Clairvoyant Fish to Static Earths: Scientific Dialogues with GenAI
In my previous post (From Shortcuts to Simulations: Two Contrasting Uses of AI in Higher Education), I shared how my colleague Jim ingeniously used AI to prepare for a difficult conversation about academic integrity. Today, I want to explore another fascinating...
From Shortcuts to Simulation: Two Contrasting Uses of AI in Higher Education
It is almost a cliché to say that generative AI can be both a challenge and an opportunity in education. Here's a story that captures this duality perfectly, showcasing two different approaches to how generative AI can be used in educational contexts, one ethically...
My (small) Role in ASU’s AI Evolution: New Report and Ethical Evaluation Framework
Arizona State University continues to push boundaries. I'm excited to share two recent developments that intersect with my collaborative work at ASU over the past few years. These initiatives showcase our institution's commitment to leveraging AI responsibly while...
The Conscious Suspension of Belief: Getting Smart about Human-AI Interaction
A classic tale of early cinema recounts the 1896 Paris screening of the Lumière brothers' "L'arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat" (Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station). According to popular accounts, some viewers reportedly reacted with panic to the realistic...
Tech Integration Models and GenAI: Podcast Episode (Part II)
Last week, I shared information about my participation in the Superspeaks | Microsoft EDU podcast on the BAM Radio Network. The discussion focused on technology integration frameworks in the context of Generative AI, featuring a panel of educational technology...
NotebookLM’s Viral Secret: It’s All in Our Heads
Google's recent release of NotebookLM has stirred up quite a buzz, particularly its podcast feature. At first glance, it might not seem revolutionary—after all, we've had AI tools that can engage with uploaded documents for a while now. And it does not require...
Turing’s Tricksters: How AI Hijacks Our Social Instincts
In a recent article in The Atlantic (Shh, ChatGPT. That’s a Secret), Lila Shroff delves into the surprising willingness of people to share intimate details with AI chatbots. To be clear, this did not come as a surprise. Readers of this blog will know this is something...
From ChatGPT to Chats Devroop: Ed Tech & Time Travel in South Africa
This past week I was in Durban, South Africa presenting at the Innovations in the Science of the Teaching and Learning (ISOTL) Conference 2024: Bridging Ethics, Equity, and Innovation in Higher Education, organized by the University of KwaZulu-Natal. It was a pretty...
Digital Shadows: AI Scripts a Different Curriculum
As we continue to grapple with the hype and transformative potential of generative AI in education, I find myself revisiting a point I've made before: the most significant impacts of this technology may not be within the classroom walls, but in the world that...
Unlocking Creativity: Dr. Anna Abraham on Interdisciplinarity, AI, and Human Innovation
The advent, adoption and rapid evolution of generative AI has raised many questions about how we think about creativity (human and machine), and its impact on learning. As part of our ongoing series in TechTrends, my colleagues and I have been exploring these issues...
Tech integration models and GenAI: Podcast episode (Part I)
I was recently invited to be a guest on the Superspeaks | Microsoft EDU podcast on the BAM Radio Network. the topic at hand were technology integration frameworks in the age of Generative AI. I was joined by a literal who's who of educational technology scholars, all...
Advancing Education in the AI Era: Video Update
I was recently in Washington, DC, for a panel discussion titled "Advancing Education in the AI Era: Promises, Pitfalls, and Policy Strategies" organized by the Center for AI Policy. The panel, moderated by Jason Green-Lowe of the CAIP, also included Michael Brickman,...
Beavers, Brains & Chat Bots: Cognitive Illusions in the Age of AI
Imagine a world where tape recorders fool beavers, triangles tell stories, and AI convinces us it's sentient. Welcome to reality—where our cognitive biases are colliding with technology in ways we're only beginning to understand. In this post, I focus on our tendency...
creAItive teaching: Announcing a new course
I have been working for a while (with some amazing colleagues) on course on creative teaching with AI. This was publicly announced in a story in today’s MLFTC newsletter titled: GenAI as a creative K–12 learning partner For those who haven't had a chance to read the...