Episode 4 - Why AI Will Make Our Kids Stupid (with Tom Richmond)

In this episode of Broken Custodians, Molly and Ben Kingsley from UsForThem speak to education expert Tom Richmond about the infiltration of AI into UK schools, and the serious questions being missed in the rush to embrace it.Starting with the government’s enthusiasm for expanding the use of AI in education, they explore how these tools have already become embedded into classrooms through the software and devices that schools have been encouraged to use. They discuss the science of learning, the difference between improved performance and better learning, and the emerging evidence that the use of AI weakens memory and long-term knowledge retention, especially for children and new teachers.The conversation also looks at plans to roll out AI tutoring, the pressure on teachers to use AI as a shortcut, and the risk of confusing teaching efficiency with better learning. More broadly, this episode asks whether schools have been drawn into a giant uncontrolled experiment, and whether AI can ever support education without hollowing out learning itself.Broken Custodians follows paper trails, interrogates official claims and asks what went wrong, who benefited, and what it would take to do better.NOTES:Tom Richmond’s September 2025 paper for the Social Market Foundation, EducAItion, educAItion, educAItion: Could Generative Artificial Intelligence pose a risk to educational standards?, is here: https://www.smf.co.uk/publications/ai-and-learning/