Rewind: How AI is fueling an existential crisis in education

Rewind: How AI is fueling an existential crisis in education

Author: The Verge May 7, 2026 Duration: 42:05
Hey, everyone, Nilay here. We’re off today, while the team and I are cooking on a lot of really great stuff in the coming weeks. We’ll be back with an all-new interview on Monday.  In the meantime, we really wanted to highlight this episode we first aired in the fall, because it’s about a huge subject: AI in schools. The school year is starting to wrap up now around the country, and we’re no closer to figuring out how to thread the needle about generative AI in education than we were in September. Links:  A majority of high school students use gen AI for schoolwork | College Board About a quarter of teens have used ChatGPT for schoolwork | Pew Research Your brain on ChatGPT | MIT Media Lab My students think it’s fine to cheat with AI. Maybe they’re on to something. | Vox How children understand and learn from conversational AI | McGill University ‘File not Found’ | The Verge Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder! Credits: Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Ursa Wright.  The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

At the intersection of power, innovation, and consequence, you'll find Decoder with Nilay Patel. Hosted by The Verge's editor-in-chief, this isn't a typical business or technology podcast that simply recites the news. Instead, Nilay engages with founders, CEOs, legislators, and artists in substantive conversations that dissect the mechanics behind major decisions. The dialogue focuses on the real-world implications of big ideas, probing how today's choices in boardrooms and legislatures ripple out into society tomorrow. You'll hear guests articulate their toughest challenges, the trade-offs they've made, and the often-unseen forces shaping industries from social media and artificial intelligence to transportation and entertainment. Each episode is built on a foundation of genuine curiosity, aiming to unpack not just what is happening, but why it matters for the way we all live and work. Listening to this podcast feels like gaining access to a nuanced, behind-the-scenes briefing where strategy and philosophy collide. It's for anyone who suspects that the most important stories aren't the announcements themselves, but the human decisions, the unforeseen problems, and the ethical calculations that happen long before the headlines are written. Through these detailed conversations, Decoder provides a crucial lens on the architects of our modern world and the complex systems they are building, for better or worse.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Decoder with Nilay Patel
Podcast Episodes
Recode Decode: Caleb Scharf [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 54:35
Caleb Scharf, the director of Astrobiology at Columbia University, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about the under=discussed dangers humans would face in space and the rise of private space exploration, as championed by…
Recode Decode: Corey Johnson [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:05:00
Corey Johnson, the Speaker of the New York City Council and an candidate in the 2021 mayoral race, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about his planned expansion of bike, bus, and pedestrian lanes across the city, which wi…
Recode Decode: David Kaye [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 59:00
David Kaye, the special rapporteur for freedom of opinion and expression at the United Nations, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about the hacking of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' phone by the Saudi Arabian government; why it’s…
Recode Decode: Larry Ingrassia [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 53:11
Journalist Larry Ingrassia talks with Recode’s Jason Del Rey about his new book, Billion Dollar Brand Club: How Dollar Shave Club, Warby Parker, and Other Disruptors Are Remaking What We Buy. Ingrassia, a longtime editor…
Recode Decode: Carol Leonnig and Phil Rucker [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:06:40
Washington Post reporters Carol Leonnig and Phil Rucker talk with Recode's Kara Swisher about their new book, A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump's Testing of America. In it, they draw from more than 200 interviews wit…
Recode Decode: Mark Surman [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 52:03
Mozilla Foundation executive director Mark Surman talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about why the internet needs a "public option," how Mozilla's browser Firefox is positioning itself for the future, and the future of tec…
Recode Decode: Anna Wiener [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:02:51
Anna Wiener, a contributing writer for the New Yorker and the author of the new book Uncanny Valley: A Memoir, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about why she left an old industry — book publishing — to work in tech, the…
Recode Decode: Dave Eggers [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 56:39
Writer and McSweeney's founder Dave Eggers talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about his latest novel, The Captain and the Glory, why he chose to write a satirical novel about the Trump era, and what he's learned from inter…
Recode Decode: Franklin Leonard [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 49:44
The Black List founder Franklin Leonard talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about how he accidentally created one of the most important lists in Hollywood and how he turned it into a real business for connecting screenwrite…
Recode Decode: Ezra Klein [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:09:33
Vox.com co-founder Ezra Klein talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about his new book, Why We're Polarized, the rise of systemic "zero sum" party politics, and how Klein himself has been polarizing in the Trump era. Klein an…