McLuhan’s laws of media provide a framework to understand how such technology reshapes the teaching experience from the point of view rhat LLMs such as GPT-4o is a creative new media that offers bespoke messages unlike the prescribed rota of guides and channels. McLuhan’s tetrad—examining what a medium enhances, obsolesces, retrieves, and reverses into—reveals the nuanced impacts of AI. As AI enters mainstream educational practice (it’s taken two years to become a norm from the screams of horror that jobs are being lost), it enhances the immediacy of feedback and data-driven reflection, obsolesces traditional, more time-intensive forms of evaluation, retrieves aspects of individualized learning, and may, at its extreme, reverse into a detached or overly automated learning environment. This reversal poses a risk (as I am experiencing right now as I assess digital art from 87 children) if AI’s role in education becomes too prescriptive, moving away from supportive reflection towards rigid oversight (again, see the link above)

In the growing discussion around artificial intelligence and large language models (LLMs), the same high-stakes questions keep appearing: Are we creating an intelligence that will one day surpass us? Could it even become dangerous? These speculations draw attention, but they often sidestep the practical, immediate impact AI is having in our lives. Instead of buying into the sci-fi-level fear and speculation, we might do better to ask a different set of questions: How can these tools serve us right now? And perhaps more importantly, how do we ensure they evolve in ways that genuinely benefit people?

For many of us, the “doom and gloom” narrative around AI does little to clarify its practical uses or potential benefits. Yes, large language models are powerful, but we should be skeptical of the inflated claims that AI is on the verge of becoming an autonomous, threatening entity. As someone exploring how LLMs can be tools for language learning, instructional coaching, and professional growth, I see immense potential—just not in the ways often hyped in headlines. Let’s cut through the noise and explore the genuine, practical ways AI can enhance our lives, including its role in education and teacher training.