As part of their staff development on Monday 21 July 2025, Cannons staff welcomed Sean Goldsmith who delivered his ‘Educated by AI’ talk. He spoke of the rise of AI especially due to its ability to access a broad spectrum of information quickly, and to assist with administrative tasks. He relayed that AI might not yet be replacing humans, but companies have started hiring freezes. Goldsmith pointed out the alarming worldwide trend of teachers being replaced with AI.
However, he noted that the issue with this is that academic content delivery is not the only aspect of teaching, adding in that teachers are responsible for teaching critical thinking, entrepreneurial skills, how to be decent humans, and often filling gaps for parents – all in all, how to be successful humans. We cannot educate for jobs as they once were, and schools need to adapt to this. Goldsmith reiterated the importance of practical skills such as having a ‘side hustle’, and concluded that AI recognises that personalised attention is a key element where contextualisation is important, not just teaching.
At Cannons, critical thinking is evident within our syllabus – especially our PBL, IBL and STEAM lessons; and entrepreneurial skills are nurtured through initiatives like the Grade 6 Market Day, Grade 7-9 Market Day and during the EMS syllabus. We will continue to educate our parents, staff, and pupils of the dangers and opportunities of AI. Click here to read more about Academics at Cannons.