AI Insights #30

Welcome to Edition 30 of AI Insights.

I didn’t think I’d get this far, to be honest.

Back when I started this newsletter, I figured maybe ten issues, tops. But here we are, thirty editions later.

Most of these are written in the evenings once the kids are asleep and the house finally quietens down. During the week I leave myself chaotic WhatsApp messages full of half-formed thoughts and cryptic notes that make no sense later. By the time I sit down to write, I usually have a mess to untangle. Some of it gets spoken into Word. Some gets typed up and AI-proofed.

The rest is just me, trying to find the thread.

This edition brings together three pieces. Each one started as a different problem, but they’ve all ended up circling the same theme.

The first story is about our school’s inspection prep. There was too much information, too many voices and not enough structure. So we turned to AI to help.

The second piece turns the lens outward. The EU AI Act is quietly setting the tone for how organisations across Europe approach risk, responsibility and transparency.

The final one is for the students. Not what they need to memorise or revise, but what they need to build as the world moves around them.

Each section stands on its own, but if you read them together, a pattern starts to emerge.

Change is constant. The hard part is learning how to move with it.

How We Used AI (and a Ton of Data)

Now, I’m gonna be a little more tight-lipped than usual here. Mainly because this one’s a bit on the confidential side, and let’s face it, sometimes you really don’t want to show how the sausage was made.

That said, I can tell you this: we’re in the middle of some heavy lifting for school staff prep, with a big inspection looming. And if you’ve been through one of those, you know the drill. It’s all about the evidence.

All of it.

Piled high.

We’ve got spreadsheets. Paddlets. Surveys from students, parents, staff. School data out the wazoo. Basically, if it had a number, a quote, or a drop of insight, we threw it into the pot.

Just before the Easter break, we kicked off the first draft of our SEF (Self-Evaluation Form). And it ballooned. Fast.

Everyone jumped in with good intentions, tossing in all the important stuff they had. But before long, Section 1 was the size of a novel while Section 5 looked like it was written during a coffee break.

The content was gold. But it was everywhere. We knew what we needed to say, we just hadn’t cracked how or where to say it.

Cue ChatGPT Teams

Enter AI. We created a ChatGPT project space, with our draft SEF.

At this point, we’d already written nearly 100 pages worth of material. Not fluff either – real data, ideas, observations, the works. Using that as the foundation, the AI helped us refine what we had. Reorganise it. Spot overlaps. Tell more of a narrative story.

Some things got dropped in the process. The AI made cuts we probably wouldn’t have, so we did what any sensible humans would do. We went back in, made sure the essentials stayed in, and added in bits we’d missed the first time around.

And honestly? Once the structure was clearer, more ideas flowed. “Oh yeah, we haven’t mentioned X.” Or, “We should really bring in that Y example.” The whole thing became more of a living document again, just... tidier. With purpose.

The Takeaway

This wasn’t AI doing our homework. This was us, doing the human work, using AI to make sense of the beast we’d created. It helped us distil, sharpen, and – dare I say – tell a better story about the work we’re already doing in the school.

Another Policy Change? Great. Just What You Needed

You're already spinning plates.

Budgets, staffing, inspections, safeguarding, digital strategy — all at once.

Now AI’s knocking on the door. And behind it? The EU AI Act, with new rules, new risks, and a whole lot of questions.

You’re not being asked to code. But you are being asked to lead.

Because this legislation won’t just affect tech firms. It will shape how schools across Europe (and beyond) use AI in classrooms, back offices, and student services.

And if you’ve got AI tools anywhere in your ecosystem? You need to know where you stand.

Join me and Dan Fitzpatrick , in partnership with COBIS - Council of British International Schools , for a clear, practical session that will help you:

✅ Make sense of what the EU AI Act actually means for schools

✅ Spot the AI use cases already happening in education, and the risks they carry

✅ Build good practice before enforcement kicks in

This isn’t about learning AI theory.

It’s about being ready for change, and showing your team you’re ahead of it.

📅 Free to attend

🌍 Open to all educators (COBIS or not)

🔗 Reserve your place here

The Future’s Changing Every Few Weeks: What Skills Do Students Actually Need Now?

Let’s not pretend otherwise. AI isn’t just coming. It’s already here, and it’s picking up speed.

Not with killer robots or glowing red eyes, but with chatbots that never sleep, design tools that think for you, and auto-coding assistants that make junior devs look like they’re stuck in 2003.

If you’re a student right now, yes, there is a bit of panic to be had. But it should be the useful kind. Not full-blown chaos or doomscrolling despair, but a realistic sense that things are shifting quickly and you need to shift with them.

The skills that were supposed to future-proof us?

They’re starting to look a bit dusty already.

The Future Won’t Sit Still

Here’s the real kicker. It’s not just that the skills have changed. It’s that they keep changing. Every few weeks, a new tool drops, a new update rolls out, or a new buzzword suddenly becomes a job title on LinkedIn.

Take Canva, for example. Once a simple design tool, now it's the front door to “vibe coding” — a space where UX, storytelling and aesthetic intuition come together in weird and wonderful ways.

For me, I finally finished rewriting our school’s computer science curriculum, chucking in VR, AR, digital entrepreneurship, robotics, a splash of quantum computing, and AI running through it all... only for the landscape to change again before we even started teaching it.

It’s like trying to pin jelly to a rocket.

Meanwhile, in the Real World: AI Is Already Reshaping Jobs

If you're wondering whether this is all just tech hype, let's take a look at what’s actually happening out there.

A growing number of companies have begun making strategic cuts to their workforce while also announcing massive AI investments.

Coincidence?

Not likely.

Let’s spill the teas:

• Google (Alphabet) has laid off staff across Android, Chrome and Ads, while doubling down on AI.
• Microsoft is trimming headcount while building AI into nearly everything it touches, thanks to OpenAI.
• Meta, Salesforce and Workday are all “reallocating” resources. Translation: investing in AI, reducing roles.
• Duolingo and Klarna have swapped out human workers for AI in customer service.
• Canva, ironically, cut parts of its technical writing team while leaning harder on AI-generated content.
• Even non-tech giants like Chevron and BT (British Telecom) are making similar moves. Cutting jobs with one hand, deploying AI with the other.
• And then there’s DBS, Southeast Asia’s biggest bank, planning to cut a significant portion of its contract staff over three years due to AI efficiencies.

Let’s be clear. Not all of these layoffs are because of AI. But a lot of them are happening at the same time. The pattern is impossible to ignore.

So, What Does This Mean for Students?

It means we’ve hit a reset.

You can’t just prepare students to get a job anymore. You have to prepare them to navigate a world where jobs are constantly being reshaped by AI.

The good news? We can equip them for this world.

But it’s going to take more than a few lessons on statisitic and a chat with a bot or two.

The New Essential Skills for Students

1. AI Literacy

This isn’t just about knowing how to use ChatGPT. It’s about understanding how these tools actually work, what their limitations are, and how they’re shaping the world around us.

That means having a basic grasp of AI governance too. Like how bias can creep into algorithms because of skewed data. Why it matters that we can’t always explain how an AI made a decision. Who’s responsible when something goes wrong. What kind of data AI tools are using, and whether that’s something people agreed to. And how laws and ethical frameworks are evolving to try and keep up.

Students don’t need to be experts, but they do need to be aware. Because the future isn’t just about using AI. It’s about understanding it well enough to ask the right questions.

2. Automation and No-Code Tools

Zapier, Notion AI, Replit, Airtable. These aren’t just nice-to-haves. They’re modern productivity staples. Students should know how to stitch together workflows and build lightweight tools that save hours (and headaches).

3. Vibing

Welcome to this era, where design, storytelling and feel matter just as much as functionality. Students should learn to:

• Build with aesthetic intuition
• Craft emotionally engaging user experiences
• Use AI tools to create brand stories, not just interfaces

If coding is the skeleton, vibe is the soul. It’s what makes an experience land. Technical skills are becoming less of a barrier, as long as you know what you want to achieve.

4. Prompt Engineering

Want good results from AI? You’d better know how to talk to it, nudge it, and refine the outputs.

Teaching AI skills now is like teaching search literacy back in the early 2000s.

5. Creative Problem Solving

AI can give you 100 answers. But which one should you pick? That’s still a human call. Critical thinking, experimentation and knowing when to break the rules will never go out of style.

You Can’t Future-Proof Students, But You Can Make Them Future-Ready

You could spend the next six months writing the “perfect” curriculum. But by the time it’s laminated, it’ll be obsolete.

The better move? Help students become curious, creative and comfortable with change.

Give them projects that are messy. Let them fail in safe spaces.

Because the world doesn’t need more rule-followers.

It needs resilient minds who can learn fast, adapt faster, and help shape the world that’s still being written.

The future isn’t coming. It’s already here and it’s updating weekly.

Teach students to surf the wave, not cling to the shore.

Tek care, duck 🐥

I hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s newsletter.

Stay steady. Stay curious.

Catch you next time

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