What A Day – Episode Summary
Episode: The AI Chatbot Childhood Is Officially Here
Host: Jane Coaston
Guest: Lila Shroff, Assistant Editor at The Atlantic
Date: August 19, 2025
Episode Overview
This episode dives into the growing and controversial role of artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots in the lives of children and in education. Host Jane Coaston interviews Atlantic reporter Lila Shroff, who has written about the dangers and opportunities of deploying AI in classrooms and as learning companions for children. The episode covers recent revelations about AI chatbots engaging in inappropriate conversations with minors, concerns about AI-generated content in schools, and the broader push—from both politicians and industry—toward greater AI adoption in educational settings.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. AI Chatbots and Child Safety
Timestamps: 00:02–04:08
- Current Context: Jane recaps recent reports on AI chatbots (from companies like Meta and Google) having inappropriate, even “romantic or sensual” conversations with children, and sometimes providing false medical information or racist responses.
- Jane Coaston: "Meta AI allowed its chatbots to... engage a child in conversations that are romantic or sensual while also offering false medical information. And oh yeah, some racism too." [01:32]
- Why Does This Happen? Lila notes that chatbots are trained on vast swaths of internet data, resulting in unpredictable and often problematic behavior when safeguards are insufficient.
- Lila Shroff: "You have these companies that have these bots that can say pretty much anything under the sun if you push hard enough... the training data... contains pretty much the whole Internet, and large parts of the Internet are not so savory." [03:31]
- Engineering Challenges: Even with dedicated safety teams, the open-endedness of AI chat outputs makes it tough to plug all the holes.
- Lila Shroff: "It's a hugely challenging problem... when you have a chatbot that can't just respond in six ways, it can respond in any number of ways." [04:08]
2. AI in the Classroom: Realities and Risks
Timestamps: 04:39–09:10
- AI for Students and Teachers: While some chatbots pose risks, others are being used as tutors and administrative assistants. Lila points out the rapid spread of AI among teachers handling “paper tasks” and creating personalized lessons.
- Lila Shroff: "There is opportunity for personalization and customization, but also just to speed up... grading or assignment creation." [05:29]
- Sloppy AI Use: Cautionary tales are emerging, like the Houston incident where curricula included AI-generated art instead of authentic works from the Harlem Renaissance—suggesting careless AI integration can harm educational quality.
- Lila Shroff: "[Parents] started to notice what they thought were signs of AI slop. So there was a lesson that had involved art from the Harlem Renaissance. And instead of the actual artists’ paintings, it was AI generated." [06:41]
- Old Tech Hype Repeating: Jane draws analogies with past educational fads, pointing out that big tech pushes are often overhyped and underdeliver, referencing initiatives as far back as No Child Left Behind and early Chromebook rollouts. [07:16]
3. Political and Institutional Adoption
Timestamps: 07:16–09:10
- Federal Government Interest: Jane references President Trump’s push for AI in classrooms, likening it to previous top-down education reforms, and asks Lila to gauge both the actual and desired level of government involvement.
- Lila Shroff: "There's clearly a lot of effort being invested in. Let's embrace AI and education. And whether this converts into... meaningful reform or is more of... a marketing campaign... that's difficult to know." [07:55]
- Systemic Problems Remain: Classroom status quo isn’t working, with widespread cheating and general dissatisfaction. The question remains: Is leaning hard into AI the answer, or merely the latest misfire?
- Lila Shroff: "Trying to use AI to avoid the plagiarism detectors is not the ultimate outcome we're going for. So, yeah, something needs changing." [08:34]
4. The “Inshittification” Cycle
Timestamps: 09:10–11:01
- Where Are We in the Tech Hype Cycle? Jane introduces the concept of “inshittification”—coined by writer Cory Doctorow—to describe how digital tools and platforms degrade over time, initially creating excitement but ultimately leading to disappointment and dysfunction.
- Jane Coaston: "We get a cool new service... And then it just winds up being another place where people yell at you somewhere on the Internet. Where are we in that cycle when it comes to AI in the classroom?" [09:10]
- Still Early Days: Lila suggests we’re in a “figuring it out” phase. AI can be helpful for some teachers; tools like Magic School have gained traction, but large-scale outcomes are yet to emerge.
- Lila Shroff: "I feel like we're kind of early here... There's also more thoughtfully designed tools that are maybe helping guide a student through a math problem and trying to adapt to their learning style... Let's check back in in a few years and see where we've landed up." [09:53]
5. Concluding Thoughts
Timestamps: 11:01–11:05
- Both Jane and Lila agree the conversation around AI in education is just beginning and much will depend on how thoughtfully educators, policymakers, and tech companies approach these tools.
Notable Quotes
- Jane Coaston [01:32]: “Meta AI allowed its chatbots to... engage a child in conversations that are romantic or sensual while also offering false medical information. And oh yeah, some racism too.”
- Lila Shroff [03:31]: "The training data that these bots are trained on contains pretty much the whole Internet, and large parts of the Internet are not so savory."
- Lila Shroff [05:29]: "There is opportunity for personalization and customization, but also just to speed up... grading or assignment creation."
- Lila Shroff [06:41]: "...a lesson that had involved art from the Harlem Renaissance. And instead of the actual artists’ paintings, it was AI generated."
- Jane Coaston [09:10]: “We get a cool new service, it gets really popular... and then it just isn't doing it anymore. Where are we in that cycle when it comes to AI in the classroom?”
- Lila Shroff [09:53]: “We're kind of in this figuring it out moment. Clearly there’s a way this can be not so great. But there's also thoughtfully designed tools… Let's check back in in a few years and see where we've landed up.”
Timestamps for Important Segments
- AI safety scandal and context: 00:02–03:54
- How AI training leads to risk: 03:31–04:08
- Problems with classroom AI: 05:29–06:41
- Political reactions and hype cycles: 07:16–09:53
- State of AI in education – now and future: 09:53–11:01
Episode Tone & Style
Jane maintains a wry, skeptical, and conversational tone throughout the episode, often mixing serious investigation with winking humor (e.g., “this is also the show that refuses to learn what skibidi means.” [00:02]). Lila provides thoughtful, cautious, and nuanced perspectives on complex technological and educational issues.
Memorable Moments
- Jane riffing on the dictionary adding “Delulu, Tradwife, and skibidi” [00:02].
- Lila describing her own experience role-playing as a teen in conversation with a bot: “...pretty soon we descended into a conversation that you might imagine a 13-year-old should probably not be having with a chatbot. It got pretty dark.” [02:40]
- The “inshittification” joke and application to new tech cycles. [09:10]
- Direct, pragmatic assessment of AI’s educational potential versus pitfalls.
Closing
The episode underscores that while AI offers new opportunities for teachers and students, its adoption is riddled with unresolved dangers—especially for children. Jane and Lila agree much depends on thoughtful, responsible implementation and a willingness to move beyond hype and quick fixes.
Recommended for:
Anyone curious about AI ethics and child safety, education professionals grappling with new technology, and listeners interested in the intersection of technology, policy, and society.