Back-to-school with Big Tech

Fresh Air

Tech giants like Google and Microsoft have been competing for years to get their devices, software and AI into public schools, even offering free training programs for teachers and students. These brands are helping shape what and how children learn. NYT reporter Natasha Singer says, “Some teachers are using AI to generate their lesson plans and assignments and their quizzes, and then kids are using AI to do them and then teachers are using AI to grade them. So we just have bots talking to bots. Is that what we want education to look like?”

Singer is the author of Coding Kids: Big Tech’s Battle to Remake Public Schools. She spoke with Terry Gross.

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2026-09-02 46 min

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