From AI Skeptic to AI Champion, Part 1

This article is part of the series “From AI Skeptic to AI Champion,” which explores how educators can move from fear and uncertainty toward wise, ethical, and human-centered AI adoption.

AI Arrives in Education

Whether you are an educator or administrator, in K-12 or higher education, at a private or public institution, working with children, teens, or adults, artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping education. More specifically, generative artificial intelligence, or GenAI, is changing how students write, how teachers plan, how schools think about cheating, and how all of us understand the future of learning.

Many have named 2023 the year of generative AI. ChatGPT, as one of the first widely adopted foundational GenAI models, seemed to appear almost overnight. Of course, it did not really appear overnight. Researchers, engineers, computer scientists, and technology companies had been building toward this moment for years. But for most of us in education, it felt sudden.

One day, AI was something we associated with science fiction, robotics, search engines, or large technology companies. The next day, students could type a question into ChatGPT and receive a poem, essay, lesson summary, quiz answer, study guide, or polished paragraph in seconds.

Puppies, Ice Cream, and a Mazda Miata

My own introduction to ChatGPT came during Christmas break in 2022. My daughter Emilyne came home from college and sat us down to show us something new on her computer. She asked me for two of my favorite things. I said, “ice cream” and “puppies.” She typed the words into ChatGPT, and it produced a poem about ice cream and puppies.

I was not impressed. I remember thinking, I could probably do the same thing with a Google search: Find me a poem about ice cream and puppies. Then she asked for another word.

“Mazda Miata,” I said.

She typed again, and the interface elegantly and creatively added a candy-red Mazda Miata to the poem about ice cream and puppies. Each time I gave a new word, ChatGPT seamlessly folded it into the poem. I asked for a haiku. It gave me a three-line, seventeen-syllable haiku about ice cream, puppies, and a Mazda Miata. I asked for a Shakespearean sonnet. It gave me Elizabethan English.

My world stopped for a moment. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. I wanted to learn more. At the same time, it was scary smart, and I did not know where this was going to take all of us.

This happened in December 2022, only a month or so after ChatGPT first broke ground. By January 2023, ChatGPT was estimated to have reached 100 million monthly active users just two months after launch, making it, at the time, the fastest-growing consumer application in history (Hu, 2023). At that point, I had never even heard of ChatGPT. But according to my daughter, all her friends at Berkeley were already using it. The adults were catching up.

I thought to myself, This is going to change everything.

Beyond the Classroom

The implications now reach far beyond the classroom. In a 2024 study by LinkedIn and Microsoft, researchers found that 66% of surveyed industry leaders said they would not hire someone without AI skills. They also found that 71% of leaders were more likely to hire a less experienced candidate with AI skills than a more experienced candidate without them (LinkedIn & Microsoft, 2024). The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025 similarly projects that 39% of workers’ core skills will change by 2030. The fastest-growing skills are technological, with AI and big data at the top of the list, followed by networks and cybersecurity and technological literacy. But the report also highlights deeply human capacities, including creative thinking, resilience, flexibility, and agility, curiosity and lifelong learning, leadership and social influence, talent management, analytical thinking, and environmental stewardship (World Economic Forum, 2025).

This list tells us that the future will not belong merely to those who can use machines. It will belong to those who can think with wisdom, create with imagination, adapt with humility, lead with courage, and continue learning with curiosity.

The Future Still Needs Teachers

In other words, the future still needs teachers. But it needs teachers who are paying attention. This is why educators cannot simply ignore GenAI. To ignore it is not neutrality. To ignore it is to leave students alone with it. Students are already experimenting with these tools, often without guidance, without boundaries, and without the wisdom of educators who can help them discern what is true, ethical, useful, and humane. Some educators have responded with enthusiasm. Others have responded with fear. Most of us, if we are honest, have probably experienced both.

GenAI is powerful, but it is not perfect. It can produce impressive responses, but it can also fabricate information. It can help students learn, but it can also help them avoid learning. It can save teachers time, but it can also tempt schools to reduce teaching to content delivery. It can support creativity, but it can also create dependency. This is why the goal is not thoughtless adoption. The goal is faithful, wise, and responsible engagement.

Teachers do not need to become AI engineers. They do not need to chase every new tool. They do not need to pretend that every innovation is good simply because it is new. But teachers do need to understand enough to guide students well. At its best, GenAI can help teachers reclaim time and energy for the parts of teaching that matter most. It can help draft lesson plans, generate examples, create differentiated materials, suggest feedback, summarize information, and support administrative communication. But these are not the heart of teaching.

The heart of teaching is still human. Teachers inspire. Teachers relate. Teachers challenge. Teachers comfort. Teachers notice. Teachers ask the question behind the question. Teachers see the child behind the assignment. Teachers cultivate wonder, discipline, courage, humility, and love of learning.

Start With Attention

So perhaps the first step is neither fear nor excitement. Perhaps the first step is attention. We need to pay attention to what AI can do, what it cannot do, what it should do, and what it must never be allowed to do.

We need to become curious without becoming careless. We need to become cautious without becoming closed. We need to learn enough to lead.

References

Hu, K. (2023, February 2). ChatGPT sets record for fastest-growing user base – analyst note. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/technology/chatgpt-sets-record-fastest-growing-user-base-analyst-note-2023-02-01/

LinkedIn & Microsoft. (2024). 2024 work trend index annual report: AI at work is here. Now comes the hard part. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index/ai-at-work-is-here-now-comes-the-hard-part

World Economic Forum. (2025). The future of jobs report 2025. https://www.weforum.org/publications/the-future-of-jobs-report-2025/