Gray Matters, November 2025
Artificial Intelligence: A Question of Human Development
Over the past couple of years, learning about artificial intelligence has been a bit of a passion project of mine. I’ve immersed myself in reading and listening (a list of some of my resources is copied below). I’ve engaged in dialogue with colleagues and peers. As an educator, through these various experiences I have come to believe that how learners engage with artificial intelligence is not in fact a technology question. Rather, learner engagement with artificial intelligence is ultimately a question of human development.
Centering the humanity of children has always been an essential ethic of Capitol Hill Day School. Our mission calls on us to connect our diverse community of students to the larger world and develop in them the confidence, compassion, and capacity to live a life of purpose and value. As I wrote earlier this year, Capitol Hill Day School educators strongly believe children need to learn in an environment that is centered on elements that make them most human: play, struggle, joy, experiential engagement, connection, and relationship building. All of this is in the service of helping children learn to know themselves, live collaboratively and cooperatively with other people, and develop the competencies to navigate complexities and think critically.
Developing the neural pathways that lead to the outcomes enumerated above is not simple nor linear work. The development of these concepts and skills takes effort and time. Effort and time, that we believe can be easily compromised by artificial intelligence. In the podcast Rethinking School in the Age of AI produced by the Center for Humane Technology, Maryanne Wolf speaks directly to cognition, saying…
“One of the most beautiful parts of learning is to pass over from the perspective of that egocentric learner into the perspective of others. This is an affective cognitive process that all adds to the ability of that learner to become critically analytic. All of that should never be short-circuited in the interest of efficiency; that's what builds the circuit of the deep [thinker].
Now, the problem with AI for me is what we call cognitive offloading. That is in the interest of efficiency, we can do all this faster and better if we’re using these technological devices. The reality is, as learners, we need the efforts.”
In last month’s Gray Matters I wrote about the essential importance of connections and relationships in the learning process. As with the efforts associated with cognition, children need to navigate the joys and challenges of social development. They must experience the full range of emotions as they learn to make friendships and encounter conflict with other humans. Again, evidence points to the risks of artificial intelligence short-circuiting this process. As Samantha Hill writes, “the danger is not that AI will replace human connection. The danger is that it will make us forget what actual connection requires.”
For these reasons, we proceed with healthy skepticism regarding the use of artificial intelligence as a learning tool. For now, in fact, we are taking the position that we will not use artificial intelligence directly with children as a component of our learning environment. In our decision making, it is essential for me that we act with deep intentionality regarding our purpose as educators and with unwavering authenticity in our commitment to progressive education. Our position regarding the use of artificial intelligence was made through this lens and following thoughtful inquiry and reflection. Most importantly it was made with the humanity and developmental needs of children as our guide.
As I’ve mentioned, artificial intelligence is a topic I’ve followed closely, through books, podcasts, and conversations that have sparked my curiosity. It’s evolving at a rapid pace, and I’m always interested in hearing how others are feeling about its impact. If you've read or listened to anything interesting recently, I welcome a conversation.
Articles
ChatGPT-5 Just Changed My Mind - Generative AI Has No Place in My Classroom (David Cutler)
Tech Companies have Created a Loneliness Doom Loop (New York Times, Samantha Hill)
The New Chatbots Could Change the World. Can You Trust Them? (New York Times, Cade Metz)
Podcasts
Is AI Productivity Worth Our Humanity? (Center for Humane Technology)
Rethinking School in the Age of AI (Center for Humane Technology)
Does using AI dumb you down? (WBUR)
Books
Ways of Being - Animals, Plants, Machines: The Search for a Planetary Intelligence (James Bridle)
The Anxious Generation (Jonathan Haidt)
CoIntelligence, Living and Working with AI (Ethan Mollick)