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)

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.

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.”

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.”

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.

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.