From Messaging to Mastery, Texting Your Way to AI Literacy | Ep. 104

In this episode of ChatEDU, From Messaging to Mastery, Texting Your Way to AI Literacy, Matt and Liz discuss couples therapy for a man and his AI girlfriend, OpenAI shelving adult companion features, and a pivot toward coding tools.

The Rundown

Gemini now imports personal context from other apps

University of Florida's Shark AI teaches K-12 machine learning through fossils and 3D prints

14 ways to remind kids that AI is a machine, not a friend

A new study on how 13–24-year-olds interact with AI

Mayor Wu wants Boston to lead on AI literacy in schools

Wikipedia bans AI-generated articles

Landmark rulings against Meta and Google over child safety

An Irish town bans smartphones for primary students

25 states target AI in education

The White House unveils a national AI workforce training framework

Prince William County bans AI glasses in school

Educause's "Prompt to Practice" pushes faculty AI transparency

Agentic AI speeds up math research at UPenn

Solar GPS and AI are replacing physical fences for livestock

AI bots have driven a 7,851 percent surge in internet traffic

Melania Trump proposes robots to teach classical studies

Anthropic finds an economic divide between AI newbies and power users

Beneath the Surface

Liz shares her firsthand experience with "Make America AI Ready," a free, week-long AI literacy course delivered via text message, discussing how SMS makes foundational AI concepts accessible to all Americans.

The Bright Byte

Helpany uses radar sensors to monitor seniors in living communities, reducing falls by 72% without invasive cameras.

Announcements

Learning They'll Love - Dr. Elizabeth Radday

ASCD:⁠ ⁠https://tinyurl.com/bde652nn⁠⁠

Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/22t9hz77

Barnes and Noble: https://tinyurl.com/bdckf6zw

Our six-week AI Micro-Credential course launching this spring in partnership with Southern Connecticut State University. Group discounts are available at Skills21.org/AI/Micro.

EdAdvance is offering a Middle and High School Student AI Literacy course — email chatedu@edadvance.org to bring it to your district. ​​⁠⁠www.skills21.org/ai/learnai⁠⁠

Skills21’s FREE social media literacy course. Check it out at https://www.skills21.org/social-balance⁠⁠

Register for our Spring AI Conference (5.1.26) in Litchfield, CT https://www.skills21.org/event-details/ai-in-education-spring-2026-conference

Check out our new Screen Time initiative

skills21.org/ai/screenshift

This episode is sponsored by

The National Center for Next Generation Manufacturing.⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://www.nextgenmfg.org⁠⁠ and EDIA edia.app.

Links

Therapy for a man and his AI girlfriend

https://tinyurl.com/yuwub6x8

Bring your AI chat history to Gemini

https://tinyurl.com/4dknmrca

Using shark teeth to teach Florida students about AI

https://tinyurl.com/2fe8ym3y

Ways to Remind Yourself (and Your Kids) AI is a Machine

https://tinyurl.com/7fhpacyy

Youth, AI, and the Relationships That Shape Them

https://tinyurl.com/yshp99bc

Boston schools and AI literacy

https://tinyurl.com/2tz2kshk

Wikipedia bans AI-generated articles

https://tinyurl.com/2cfd2pka

How courts are rewriting the rules for Big Tech and children

https://tinyurl.com/3phy49ed

A Phone-Free Childhood?

https://tinyurl.com/4wrkhxkh

One Question Every Superintendent Should Be Asking

https://tinyurl.com/ye25sff2

National AI Policy Framework

https://tinyurl.com/mstfm8nt

Guidance for the use of AI-enabled glasses

https://tinyurl.com/4mpvnp8e

Transparent GenAI Use in Higher Education

https://tinyurl.com/ytbr4uym

How AI is reshaping math research workflows

https://tinyurl.com/3szc52hd

Expansion of Virtual Fencing

https://tinyurl.com/22ykucvz

AI Traffic & Cyberthreat Benchmark Report

https://tinyurl.com/2e5rxaap

Melania and the Robot

https://tinyurl.com/523buhen

America's next class war: AI fluency

https://tinyurl.com/496ns9n7

Make America AI-Ready

https://tinyurl.com/4tc9ja7h

Radar-Based Fall Prevention and Motion Monitoring

https://helpany.com