AI is advancing faster than anyone predicted—and it’s already reshaping industries around the world. But what does that mean for education?
In this livestream, @veritasium’s Derek Muller explores how AI might change how we teach and learn, drawing on insights from past tech shifts and core principles of cognitive science. While AI presents exciting opportunities, it also introduces real risks—especially when it comes to how our brains build knowledge and expertise.
Join us for a thought-provoking conversation about the future of education in an AI-powered world.
About the Speaker
Derek Muller is a science communicator, filmmaker, and the creator of the popular YouTube channel @veritasium. With a PhD in physics education, he’s spent over a decade creating videos that challenge misconceptions and make complex science accessible. He’s also hosted documentary series like Uranium – Twisting the Dragon’s Tail and contributed to Bill Nye Saves the World on Netflix.
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22 Replies to “Veritasium: What Everyone Gets Wrong About AI and Learning – Derek Muller Explains”
That first example was just interactive didacticism. That’s not learning. It’s explaining. Learning is an outcome. Use the outcome to teach the lesson: “This is a triangle. Generate a theory that helps you classify this triangle consistently across all similar iterations of it. What do you need to help you generate and test your hypotheses en route to proposing your theory. I’ll help you test when you’re ready.”
1:06:45 , Kid if u felt like crying, let me tell you, you are amazing, you have the guts than many to come to the mic and ask a question. and mostly everybody on public mic has experienced their first times where the eyes fill up and voice starts to crack. Kudos to you
Thanks for the video
We should not worry about not learning skills like handwriting. As long as we can write which others can understand. Bow & arrow where necessary skills during hunter gatherer times, which we don't learn now a days as it is not needed any more. We learn that as an art, but not as basic necessities. Also we don't have time to learn everything. So need to learn what is needed now and leave what is obsolete.
Most people do not want to learn things unrelated to what they want to do.
They call those unrelated things "boring".
Loved the princess bride quote
"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." ~Al Barlett
Dude we don't need teachers now… Prime example I've been using Suno… I used Gemini to teach me about Dubstep. It's gather and listed different sounds and bass types. Beat type used for house 4/4 I've learned more with AI then any thread.. Then used it to prompt Suno songs… Someone could do this for any genre… But honestly I think it depends on the person not everyone will do this
https://youtu.be/oBKzrHwnfMQ?si=W6RpdIZC-SNNTWzC
There is some great information in here, and I realise it isn't the focus, but the pass given to generative art is problematic. Yes, some artists will do art for the sake of it, but nearly all major works are a product of some kind of subsidization. Allowing that industry to be gutted will have the same effects as allowing automation to take the place of writing.
On the first question, I have a different view to Derek's: if looking for bits of information to get a problem solved is time consuming and/or difficult, there's a higher chance to engage system 2 to try and dig up ONLY the minimum amount of data to solve it, again, allowing for building long term memory to master this process; just MHO. Amazing talk, thank you so much.
Counter point: In my life AI is the most supportive voice – the biggest champion of growth and nuanced understanding. In other words, AI can be a better coach/therapist than people. Great teachers etc. still outperform AI at this stage but represent .1 % of the teaching world. Great AI can touch 1000X the number of people, as we can see with Veritasium's youtube channel reaching 1000X more people than one teacher in a classroom. Technology is revolutionary.
Have you ever TRIED to use gen AI to write? It's so bad it's comical. I tried this out of curiosity, not laziness. Later when I had a bit of writer's block I tried it again. The product was again awful, but it triggered Cunningham's Law (the best way to get the right answer on the internet is not to ask a question; it's to post the wrong answer) and writer's block was defeated. Since that discovery I frequently use it in this manner. I find it hilarious that I make heavy use of gen AI while writing but rarely use anything it produces. Uncommonly, it produces something interesting and useful, but even then I just take the idea and use it competently. Just once I actually used what it produced and even then I had to edit heavily.
All living systems are inherently biologically lazy. It is not a jugement, it is just a fact about open systems and cognative efficency. Thinking Fast and Slow should be mandatory reading for all parents….make that, all citizens.
Someone should make a PG-rated version of Bladerunner for that kid at 1:05:53. Awesome question!
The one at 3:20 just looks nervous
On that number challenge, I get to nine, thinking I need to carry the one when rotating 9, go back to the second digit, realize that's not the instruction, ignore the second digit rotate 9 to 0, then move on. Too funny.
So…class should be social and we need more teachers…got it.🤓
Would he get rid of all teaching aids – even just blackboards like the one behind him? AI is a great resource for people of any age to delve into tiny specific areas that they need or want to learn or clarify. Rather than wade the text books or Wikis a LLM/GPT app can interpret the question and give an answer but then converse with the student to refine the answer or instruction. Think of it as a personal tutor after school. Then consider it as a tool that can be incorporated into a lesson by a teacher. Not all teachers are created equal. BTW, I wonder how this guy would respond if asked questions about English Grammar or any of the 'soft' subjects.. Not terribly well I feel. I think that he has a mismatch between confidence and competence when it comes to public speaking.
By using ai in education system students will totaly dependent on ai
I think that using your analogy ai sort of replaces your system 1 where your system 2 just uses it because it knows it
I don't know about revolutionize, but computer based training (CBT) I have found did allow me to learn things that I would not have had the opportunity to learn otherwise. CBT is good for certain things. Other types of learning modes mentioned might be good for certain things. Just, maybe none of them are good for everything. Learning a language requires a lot of interactivity. Sitting alone with CBT might be good to get past an introduction and it might be good for learning math at a half-hour to hour a day. But, in my experience, after getting into it a bit with CBT, learning a language is better to do with other people at 2 to 3 hours a day. So, I think all of this stuff has changed education. We wouldn't be the same nation without it. But, yes, it seems like it isn't enough.