#220 AI in Education with Dan Meyer

A decade after his first appearance on the podcast, Dan Meyer returns to discuss the intersection of AI and mathematics education. Now leading AI feature development at Amplify (which acquired Desmos), Dan brings a uniquely balanced perspective—simultaneously a critic of AI's most maximalist claims and an active builder of AI tools for the classroom. Craig and Dan dig into three core areas: AI as a personal tutor, AI for teacher professional development, and AI for assessment. Along the way, they explore why AI tutors keep falling short of their hype, what Amplify's "discussion moments" feature reveals about thoughtful AI integration, the realities of the Alpha School model, and the social dimensions of learning that no chatbot can replicate. Dan argues that genuine educational improvement may depend less on technology and more on political solutions like teacher pay, class sizes, and addressing inequality—a sobering counterpoint to the dominant AI-as-saviour narrative.