Teaching students to be ethical AI users

Summary

Marketplace Morning Report: Teaching Students to be Ethical AI Users

Date: November 27, 2025
Host: David Brancaccio
Featured Guest: Christy Gerdhery (Associate Teaching Professor, Babson College)

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Overview

This episode of the Marketplace Morning Report explores how educators are adapting to the widespread availability of AI chatbot tools like ChatGPT. The focus is on preparing students not just to use artificial intelligence, but to do so thoughtfully and ethically. David Brancaccio spotlights the innovative teaching methods of Christy Gerdhery at Babson College, who is leading efforts to integrate AI literacy into the curriculum—moving the conversation beyond academic dishonesty to responsible, creative, and critical use of the technology.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Ubiquity and Persistence of AI in Education

• Nearly three years since ChatGPT’s public release, AI tools are embedded in students’ academic lives, whether educators approve or not.
• The discussion sets the stage: it's no longer about banning AI, but preparing students for a future where AI is omnipresent.
  • David Brancaccio (01:03):

    “But AI is with us, whether teachers and professors like it or not. Now the story of one educator who's trying, trying to prepare her students for a world...where AI is always a thumb and forefinger away.”

2. The Generator: An Interdisciplinary Faculty Initiative

• Christy Gerdhery introduces her role at Babson College and the interdisciplinary faculty group called "the Generator."

  • The Generator (founded Fall 2023) brings together educators to explore AI’s impact in classrooms and daily life.

  • Supported by modest funding, it connects over 30 institutions across Boston for collaborative, values-driven discussions.

  • Noteworthy events have included forums on:

    • Ethical, values-based approaches to AI
    • Addressing equity and bias in AI detectors, particularly their impact on marginalized students
    • Student panels challenging the myth that AI is just a "cheating machine"

  • Christy Gerdhery (01:35):

    “We had over 30 institutions from all around the Boston area that came together for a day...we had a session on values-based approaches to AI. Another session led about leading with like an ethic of care, about how AI detectors tend to flag already marginalized students more often.”

3. Reframing Assignments for an AI World

• Gerdhery champions the idea that educators shouldn't see AI as an existential threat but as a tool for collaboration and deeper learning.

• She emphasizes her classroom mantra:

  • Christy Gerdhery (02:47):

    “I always say, like, you have to be better than a robot.”

• Gerdhery’s “Remediation” assignment series for first-year writing explores this balance:

  1. AI-only Remediation: Students let AI rework their original writing.
  2. Human-AI Collaboration: Students collaborate with AI, visually distinguishing between their input and the AI's.
  3. Beyond AI: Students create something AI can't do, pushing them to engage uniquely human skills (creativity, personal experiences, making tangible objects).

  • Example: A student remixed a personal story about speaking Bulgarian with her grandmother by crafting a physical rose in the makerspace, blending art, heritage, and narrative in a tactile way.

  • Christy Gerdhery (03:11):

    “Do something that AI can't. And that really stretched students' thinking because it seemed like [AI] could do everything. But then I started getting these really interesting projects...and to me, like, that is not loss of critical thinking.”

4. Redefining Success Beyond Essays

• Gerdhery argues for broader demonstrations of learning, suggesting that "five paragraph essays" are not always relevant to real-world communication and creativity.
• Integrating AI should be about enhancing students’ potential to use all available tools “to help us and make better things happen.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• David Brancaccio (01:03):

  “AI is with us, whether teachers and professors like it or not.”

• Christy Gerdhery (01:52):

  “How AI detectors tend to flag already marginalized students more often.”

• Christy Gerdhery (02:47):

  “You have to be better than a robot.”

• Christy Gerdhery (03:26): (on a student’s “what AI can’t do” project)

  “She like made this clay rose that she painted in our makerspace and was able to kind of tell the story in a different way with a physical object. And to me, like, that is not loss of critical thinking.”

• Christy Gerdhery (03:49):

  “We don't see five paragraph essays out in the world. But you know, there are ways that we can use all the tools we have to help us and make better things happen.”

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Key Timestamps

• 01:01 — Brancaccio introduces the episode’s main story: educators meeting the AI challenge.
• 01:35 — Gerdhery explains the Generator collective and its values-first approach to AI in the classroom.
• 02:47 — “You have to be better than a robot:” embracing human+AI hybrid work.
• 03:11–03:49 — Assignment strategies, student creativity, and the push for authentic engagement.

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Summary Takeaways

This episode reframes the conversation about AI in education from one of fear and punishment to one of adaptation, collaboration, and ethical engagement. Christy Gerdhery encourages both teachers and students to think about what makes their contributions distinctly human, even as they skillfully employ the newest tools. The result is an inspiring look at education’s evolving relationship with AI—focused not on blocking the future, but shaping it thoughtfully.

Transcript

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[B]

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[C]

How a teacher learned to live with those cheating on a stick system known as AI chatbots I'm David Brancaccio in Los Angeles. It's almost three years since ChatGPT went live to the world. It quickly became a killer app for students looking to use artificial intelligence either as a helper or a shortcut. But AI is with us, whether teachers and professors like it or not. Now the story of one educator who's trying, trying to prepare her students for a world and future careers where AI is always a thumb and forefinger away.

[D]

I'm Christy Gerdhery. I am an associate teaching professor of English and director of the Writing center at Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts. So at Babson, I work with an interdisciplinary group of faculty called the Generator. And so the Generator kind of started in fall 2023 and we just started having convers around how are these tools impacting what's happening in the classrooms in our daily lives? And we got some modest funding. And so we had over 30 institutions from all around the Boston area that came together for a day. And for the first tea party, we had a session on values based approaches to AI. Another session led about leading with like an ethic of care about how AI detectors tend to flag already marginalized students more often. And then also brought in a panel of students really blowing up notions that it's just a cheating machine and it's something for us to work through together. I kind of have a mantra going with my students now, but I always say, like, you have to be better than a robot. So one assignment we do in our first year writing class is called a Remediation, where students go back to something they'd previously written, remix it into something new. I had students first just letting AI remediate your work. And the next one was I want you to collaborate with AI and like literally color code what's yours? What's the bots? And the third one was do something that AI can't. And that really stretched students thinking because it seemed like I could do everything. But then I started getting these really interesting projects. One student wrote about speaking Bulgarian with her grandmother and it was something about roses and ceramics. And so she like made this clay rose that she painted in our makerspace and was able to kind of tell the story in a different way with a physical object. And to me, like that is not loss of critical thinking. Like we don't see five paragraph essays out in the world. But you know, there are ways that we can use all the tools we have to help us and make better things happen.

[C]

That's Christy Gerd Harry, Associate teaching Professor and Director of the Writing center at Babson College. U.S. stock and Bond markets and commodity markets are closed for the holiday today. They're open tomorrow, but they knock off early for the stock market. It'll be 1pm Wall street time, 10am in the West.

[E]

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[C]

Professional soccer in Britain and Europe has long attracted big time foreign investment. And now increasingly owners from the US are joining in on that. The BBC.

[F]

From private equity mega funds to Hollywood actors and hip hop stars. What was a drip drip of US investment into British soccer has become something of a deluge. More than a third of the 72 professional clubs from England, and some from Wales as well, are now either fully or part owned by US investors.

[G]

I believe that the opportunities have not even been scratched.

[F]

That's the businessman and lawyer Rob Kuig. He'd been a long term owner of Wickham Wanderers in the leagues below the Premier League. But he's back to ride the soccer roller coaster once again. Having this summer bought Reading fc. He told us why from his home in Louisiana.

[G]

The more I looked at it, it's an undervalued commodity or asset that most people don't understand in England. For us, we thought we could get in and do some things that would change valuations and actually show that you could operate it in a sustainable manner. And we did it.

[F]

Undervalued how?

[G]

It's an international mark. People really love the game of soccer, obviously, but on a purely economic basis, you could not buy a minor league baseball team in America for the equivalent amount.

[F]

Two years ago, Birmingham City, one of the club's biggest, based in the UK's second largest city, Birmingham was taken over by the US private equity firm Knighthead Capital Management. And along with them came a very famous minority owner.

[B]

We're here to support the club. We want, we want success on the pitch, we want to be winning and that's what we're committed to.

[F]

The NFL star Tom Brady. And what do you need if you have a celebrity owner like say Rexam's Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenny, while a competing documentary sold to a streaming platform? Of course, the way we've been sold it, we're going to the top.

[B]

We're trying to make Birmingham City a.

[F]

World class team, if that was one stream of revenue. Knighthead Capital had other plans for growing its revenues off the pitch as well. A promise, for example, to build a new so called sports quarter for the city, including a 62,000 all seater stadium, an indoor events arena and new training facilities. So what do fans at Birmingham make of their US owners? So far it's just unrecognisable. I mean, we're stood out by the fan park that we never had before. We've got full houses, we're selling out every week. We see what they see and it's revenue. Everything's about revenue. But is it worth it? And do clubs actually make money from the exposure they get from them? Here's Christina Filippou, Associate professor in Accounting and Sport Finance at the University of Portsmouth. Absolutely. I mean, if you look at 24 accounts with Wrexham. They went from in terms of sponsorship and advertising revenue, it went up more than seven times. Okay. From 2023 to 2024. That is massive. And Professor Filippoo says a lot of these brands simply wouldn't get behind the club if it wasn't clear there was truly global interest. I'm the BBC's Will Bain for Marketplace.

[C]

Enjoy your Thanksgiving. I'm David Brancaccio with the Marketplace Morning Report from APM American Public Media.

[H]

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