| There's no love like that between a dog and the father who didn't want it in the first place. But is there a serviceable analogy developing in university classrooms that have adopted generative artificial intelligence? While faculty members may still harbor skepticism, a report from Coursera Inc. suggests at least some of them are warming to the technology. Teachers are “actually more positive about Gen AI than learners in terms of [it] having a positive impact on higher education overall,” Marni Baker Stein, the online education company’s chief content officer, told me when we chatted at Bloomberg’s London office a few weeks ago. This assessment was based on a recent Coursera poll of more than 1,500 UK university students and educators, which found that 85% of educators see AI as having a positive impact on higher education. The survey also found the educators may have a distorted view of how much AI is being used by learners: They guessed students are using AI to complete over 40% of their tasks, when students estimated that figure at 24%. Meanwhile, more than a fifth of students said they don't use AI at all in their studies. (Coursera’s AI tools, which are used at schools including Imperial College and University of London, presumably could corroborate this — the company’s offering includes AI-detection programs, as well as AI learning and career coaches.) The mixed data on student usage reflects mixed feelings among students about the value of using AI, with some seeing it as a way to prepare for the world of work, and some fearing the technology will make their degrees meaningless. I asked Baker Stein about the ongoing trust gap between students and teachers, why more faculty are getting attached to AI tools, and what it will all add up to for students as they transition into the workforce. Your report shows that students are using AI less than their educators think they are. Is that good news or bad news? My guess is that most faculty are using Gen AI a lot themselves and extrapolating that students are on it all the time. Learners are actually really pretty targeted in how they’re using it — for research, for exam revision, understanding where things went right and wrong in their assessments, and for writing tasks. And when you think about it, that’s probably only 25% of what you do as a learner. You’re also reading, you’re also going to class, you’re also talking with fellow students. Everyone’s worried about students using AI. But it seems like an equally interesting question is: How are teachers using it? And why are they using it so much? The prevailing narrative around faculty is that they don’t trust Gen AI — they think it’s going to drive cheating. What we’re actually seeing is they’re actually embracing it. They give lectures, they give exams, they assign essays, but Gen AI becomes almost a conversational partner for learners in between that. That connection with their learners is still really critical, but sometimes it’s difficult when you have a large classroom to actually forge a relationship with every single one of your students. Having Gen AI tools allows you to extend almost a personalized, tutor-like relationship with learners. I think many teachers really appreciate that. Students still seem undecided about whether AI is a good thing or a bad thing for them. We’ve been hearing some employers saying that AI is helping their graduate hires be more productive — but that also means they might need fewer of them in the future. We’re seeing it across IT jobs in the US, and yes, I think young people are concerned. Learners know this is coming. Certainly using Gen AI in their everyday tasks as a student — I can see why it feels like that’s preparing them for what’s next. ... That whole generation that’s in college right now is incredibly uncertain about what’s waiting for them when they graduate. The very notion of corporate diversity programs may be under siege, but that isn’t stopping CEOs from collecting bonuses tied to diversity goals. Most of the big winners, according to an analysis by Farient Advisors, are White men. Read more: These White Male CEOs Got Wealthier From Diversity-Linked Pay | 
