Studentship in the Age of AI

As daily articles are published about the uneasy marriage between AI and education, Browning is in its third year of discerning how to use AI for the good of boys and their education. In the age of AI, the option to shortchange one’s learning is ever present. Just as social media companies have vied for adolescents’ attention by any means necessary to win it, so, too, does AI present an alluring path that can be anything but rewarding. 

Perhaps the most intriguing chart of the year was published in a Futurism article in August. It mapped the usage of ChatGPT from early May to early August 2025, and while the data in early May to early June of the chart mimicked the Himalayas, the rest of the data more closely resembled the Great Plains on a windy day. In short, ChatGPT usage skyrockets when schools are in session and plummets when they are not. Are students using ChatGPT for schoolwork? Yes, the data is undeniable and the usage seemingly unstoppable. Can we help students learn to use it for the good of themselves and others? That’s the challenge we’re eagerly tackling at Browning. 

First, all Browning teachers must continue to grow in their understanding of AI, what it can do, and how students will use it and perceive of it in their lives, whether they are GenAI natives or seeing it change their experience as high school students. Understanding GenAI is now a teacher’s professional obligation, and, thus, all of our departments and divisions crafted AI learning paths for the year. Faculty will be learning through organizations such as the Association for Academic Leaders, or the subscriptions we have with AI providers MagicSchool and Flint. We must understand how boys might use GenAI so that we plan learning experiences that put boys in the position to use it well.

Second, our assessments must evolve with the rise of AI. How can we ensure that a boy's performance on an assessment is indicative of what he knows, can do, and has learned, rather than what he can mimic on AI? Our teachers have been hard at work examining how assessments can honor the process over the final product, as our Computer Science & Engineering department is exploring, or how oral examinations and presentations can actually be a better indicator of learning and preparatory experience for future careers, as our humanities teachers are researching. 

If schools are in the business of character formation for the purpose of a good life, then our third goal of contemplating how we motivate students to take the more virtuous, productive path to learning is perhaps the most important. Finding ways to motivate boys to choose the right and the good is the true culmination of Browning's work. AI is the siren call that, if heeded, can turn a life of meaning into one of empty achievement. Motivating boys to take the harder path, to learn for the sake of knowledge, improvement, fulfillment, purpose, and service to others—a good life—is our daily charge. 

The challenge of teaching and learning in the age of GenAI is nothing more than our perennial challenge to motivate boys to their highest selves—courageous and compassionate men of intellect and integrity who aspire to contribute meaningfully to the world.