When AI in Schools is on SNL

A dear friend of mine sent me a link to this recent clip from Saturday Night Live that featured Timothée Chalamet and Bowen Chang as AI chat bots being used in a high school English class, and it is really funny. The scene opens with a teacher asking a student to put their phone away and he claims that he is using his phone as a calculator. I am quite certain that is a very common excuse that students use when caught with their phones out in class. The skit then takes a turn to pressure from the school administration to increase test scores. The district has decided to implement an AI tool that converts study guides into podcasts (remember my post about Notebook LM???). The students are intrigued and the teacher says “Well the technology isn’t perfect, but they make it sound so casual that it doesn’t even feel like homework.” They then cut to Chalamet and Chang discussing American history. It is absolutely hysterical in my opinion. They both do a fantastic job of mimicking both the style of what NotebookLM creates, as well as the often bizarre scripts that early AI is often roasted for. What makes it even funnier is the misuse of teenage slag throughout and the vocal tone and pacing that these talented actors employ.

The students react as though a bunch of weird Boomers are trying to act cool, while simultaneously dumbing down the subject area. I am sure that many of the students in our classrooms feel the same at this point in time. One student asks “Isn’t AI supposed to make things simpler?” The teacher says that the podcasts are supposed to be fun so that it doesn’t even feel like learning. One of the student quips “I don’t think we are learning.” From there the clip continues with several other hilarious jabs at AI, including giving both podcast hosts 6 fingers. The students also argue about whether AI is better than a human brain. I urge you to check this out - but be aware that there is some dialogue that is likely inappropriate for your students.

I think SNL perfectly captured this early introduction of AL tools into classrooms, although they don’t mention any AI music tools. At the moment, I take some comfort in catching AI doing weird things - especially tools like Sora, DALL-E3 and others. But it will get better. It will be very interesting to look back on a clip like this one, as well as many other comedic bits by stand-up comics, and compare where we started with where we end up. What do you think? I’d love to hear from you.