EdTechSR Episode 368: The OpenClaw Warning

What this episode covers

Welcome to episode 368 (“The OpenClaw Warning”) of the EdTech Situation Room from February 4, 2026, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week, Dr. Jason Neiffer (aicentrist.com) and Dr. Wesley Fryer (wesfryer.com) dive into the burgeoning world of agentic AI, highlighting the experimental "OpenClaw" tool while issuing a stark warning about the security risks inherent in autonomous AI agents. They also examine the precarious state of local journalism and its vital role in community cohesion. The discussion features a live look at the powerful new integration of Google's NotebookLM into Gemini, showcasing how educators can leverage curated "knowledge oracles" to generate source-grounded instructional materials. Additional topics include the intersection of gaming culture and mainstream media literacy via the Angry Planet podcast and a passionate defense of the humanities and competitive debate as essential skills for the AI era. Our show was live-streamed and archived on YouTube Live via StreamYard.com and auto-archived to YouTube. We are now publishing from Substack too! Subscribe to us with your favorite podcast listening app, or directly on or www.youtube.com/@edtechSR. Follow our EdTechSR page on Facebook, mastodon.education/@edtechsr on Mastodon for updates, and join LIVE on Wednesday nights if you can. All show notes are available at edtechSR.com/links. 🔗 Links We Discussed * [PODCAST] Online Culture Is the Whole Culture (Angry Planet, 30 Jan 2026) * “Conspiracies and Culture Wars” Media Literacy Inquiry Project (Wes Fryer) * Collar cams offer a bear’s eye view into the lives of grizzlies on Alaska’s desolate North Slope (AP, 2 Feb 2026)Local TV and radio at a crossroads (Peter Vogel, The BC Catholic, 28 Jan 2026) * Podcast393: Reflections on UnPlug’d 2012 with David Truss & Gail Lovely https://www.speedofcreativity.org/2012/08/13/podcast393-reflections-on-unplugd-2012-with-david-truss-gail-lovely/ * ds106 radio * Powell Tribune (Wyoming) * Daily Interlake News (Montana, via Peggy George) * kgez.com (Kalispell, MT - via Peggy George) * KMAN Radio (Manhattan, Kansas) * Day of AI (a program developed at MIT RAISE in partnership with the i2 Learning Foundation) * [VIDEO] Watch: Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei From World Economic Forum | WSJ (32 min) * Hard Fork [PODCAST] Can You Teach Claude to be ‘Good’? | Meet Anthropic Philosopher Amanda Askell (23 Jan 2026) * Don’t Install OpenClaw. But Keep a Close Eye on It. (Jason @ Field Notes at the FLL; 2 February 2026) * The buzz over AI agents (NPR Here and Now; 2 February 2026) * Moltbook is the newest social media platform — but it’s just for AI bots (NPR ATC; 4 February 2026) * MoltBook.com (AI agent social network) * Take your notebooks further by adding NotebookLM as a source in the Gemini app (Google Workspace Updates; 27 January 2026) * Jason’s Geek of the Week: Meetily (Local AI Meeting Tool) * Wes’ Geeks of the Week:: 2026 Frost Forward Online Conference Registration - [PODCAST] AI in Education: Jeffrey Riley on AI Literacy, Teachers, and the Future of Learning (The Teacher’s Forum, David Harris, 3 Feb 2026) - Google Account 3rd Party App Authorizations 🧭 Links We Did NOT Discuss * Anthropic and Teach For All launch global AI training initiative for educators (Anthropic Blog, 21 Jan 2026) * Claude for Education * Gem and NotebookLM Workflow (Miguel Guhlin, 1 Feb 2026) * Claude is a space to think (Anthropic blog, 4 Feb 2026) * Customize Cowork with plugins (Claude Blog; 30 January 2026) * Google’s Gemini app has surpassed 750M monthly active users (TechCrunch; 4 February 2026) * The new era of browsing: Putting Gemini to work in Chrome (The Keyword from Google) * Rice University students create ICE tracker as hundreds protest in Houston (The Center Square, 31 Jan 2026) Episode 368 is also available on YouTube in two formats: Portrait mode optimized for mobile phones, and Landscape mode optimized for laptop / desktop computers! This Substack version (syndicated to other podcasting platforms) was edited using Descript.com to remove “filler words!” Get full access to EdTech Situation Room Podcast at edtechsr.substack.com/subscribe