AI is here and the debate around how to harness it for public good is intensifying. In Washington, Melania Trump framed AI as a tool to help children navigate the new era, calling it the greatest engine of progress in US history. The scene was earnest, the binder thick with notes, and the message clear: education can ride the AI wave to broader opportunity.
Yet as Arwa Mahdawi notes in her coverage for the Guardian, there is a countercurrent. Some observers wonder whether the best gesture is not to equip kids with AI literacy but to safeguard the institutions that shape their learning. The idea that public education should be protected — perhaps even shielded from political shifts — rings through the critique that her husband should stop gutting public education in pursuit of a tech-enabled future.
Meanwhile, in the digital newsroom, the AI tide is reshaping a different landscape. Google\’s pivot to AI is upending how online readers discover content, and publishers are scrambling to adapt. The Financial Times floated a bold concept — a Nato for news — to mount a collective response to AI\’s effects, but the practical impact has been a steep drop in traffic from search and a rethink of how content is valued. The numbers — a 25 to 30 percent decline in readers arriving via search — underscore the existential crisis facing many outlets as AI reshapes authorship, licensing, and audience trust.
Taken together, these threads reveal a common challenge: AI offers profound potential, but realizing it requires thoughtful policy, credible education, and resilient media ecosystems. The path forward will demand collaboration across schools, platforms, and policymakers to ensure AI serves as a tool for learning and informed citizenship rather than a destabilizing force in classrooms or newsrooms.
In short, AI is here — with promises and risks. The question is not whether it exists, but how we steward it for the public good, in both classrooms and newsrooms.
