TEDx Talks is the official channel for independently organized TEDx events, and this entry comes from TEDxSherbrooke Street West. The speaker, Charlie Gedeon, is a university instructor, entrepreneur, and interaction designer whose work focuses on how technology reshapes thinking and learning, giving him a dual vantage point as both someone who teaches students and someone who studies how systems shape behavior.
Gedeon's argument moves past the familiar "AI will make cheating easier" framing. Instead, he makes the case that AI is surfacing a problem that predates it: an education system that has long rewarded grades over genuine growth, leaving students with little reason to value the process of learning over the output. When students outsource decisions and reasoning to tools like ChatGPT, Gedeon argues, they're responding rationally to incentives that were already broken, and AI simply makes that failure visible and immediate rather than slow and hidden.
The talk closes on a call for collective responsibility rather than a technical fix, pointing instructors, institutions, and students alike toward rethinking what education is actually supposed to reward. That framing gives the talk staying power beyond the current AI-in-classrooms news cycle, since the underlying question, what are we actually teaching students to value, doesn't disappear even as the tools evolve.
Who is this for:
Educators, students, and anyone concerned about how AI is reshaping learning and critical thinking.
This video discusses AI's impact on learning and critical thinking in an educational context. If you have concerns about your own or a student's wellbeing related to technology use, consider speaking with a counselor or academic advisor.
