AI in education isn’t slowing down. If anything, July brought a fresh surge of tools, critiques, and questions about how learners and educators are adapting to the technology. The conversation is really heating up – from educators making their voices heard to cautionary research results emerging from prestigious universities, this month’s updates offer a revealing snapshot of the many (and sometimes opposing!) forces impacting the evolution of AI.
One of the more technically ambitious updates came from Cursor, the AI-enhanced code editor. Already popular among developers for its in-IDE assistance, Cursor has now expanded to web and mobile platforms, allowing students and teams to scaffold code, review pull requests, and generate diffs from virtually anywhere. As part of this rollout, Cursor Agents gained Slack integration and Progressive Web App support, bringing distributed collaboration and low-friction feedback into the foreground. In an educational context, this kind of portability could make it easier for student teams to iterate on codebases across devices and class periods, which is an appealing prospect for project-based learning in computer science and engineering courses.
At this year’s ISTE conference, Google unveiled more than 30 new capabilities for Gemini for Education. The new features range from personalized quiz generation to AI-created assessment forms and classroom-ready video overviews. One of the more notable additions is “Gems” – customizable AI experts that teachers can create and assign, allowing classroom activities to mirror more individualized tutoring. Gemini’s integration with learning platforms like Canvas and Schoology, as well as its support for under-18 users through new safety protocols, shows a clear push to position AI not just as a productivity tool but as a curriculum-integrated resource. The scale of the rollout and its cross-platform design make it one of the most aggressive AI-for-education strategies to date.
Not everyone is cheering. In a recent opinion piece for the Chicago Tribune Liz Shulman (who teaches English at Evanston Township High School and in the School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University) offers a pointed critique of AI’s classroom footprint. She describes a landscape where teachers are undercut by glowing marketing copy, students are encouraged to bypass foundational skills, and public policy increasingly favors algorithmic instruction over human expertise. Shulman’s students voice ambivalence and even fear: some use AI for convenience, others wonder whether it will replace their future careers. Her account doesn’t reject AI outright. Instead, she points out poignantly that we risk losing critical human capacities like curiosity, agency, and classroom community when AI is pitched as a shortcut rather than a supplement.
A study from MIT’s Media Lab adds a scientific dimension to Shulman’s concerns. Researchers found that participants using large language models (LLMs) for essay writing consistently exhibited weaker neural connectivity compared to those writing without digital tools. EEG data showed that LLM users engaged fewer cognitive pathways, reported lower ownership of their work, and struggled more with memory recall. These effects persisted even after participants switched back to non-assisted writing tasks, suggesting long-term impacts. While the study doesn’t claim AI use is inherently harmful, it does raise important questions about how quickly cognitive shortcuts become habits – and what that might mean for skill acquisition over time. Careful design of AI tools is paramount!
AI is Here. So Are Its Limits.
Together, these stories sketch an ecosystem in flux. Tools are getting smarter. Access is expanding. At the same time, ethical tensions and cognitive consequences are coming into sharper focus. For education leaders, July’s updates are a reminder that every rollout decision shapes not just classroom logistics, but learning itself. If you’re looking to integrate AI into your content but aren’t sure where to start, we’re here to help – particularly if you share the concerns raised in this article. We’re working to make sure the future of AI is equitable, useful, and humane, and we’re standing by to help you make it happen for your audience.