How I See AI Affecting Education

By default AI will magnify gaps between good and bad students
June 1, 2025
Daniel Miessler

A charcoal sketch of a purple wedge splitting the ground in two, with one student climbing a stack of books on the rising side while another lies sprawled with a tablet on the crumbling side.

I've got a one-liner for what AI will do to education.

And it'll be the same with everything else. But I want to be clear about something:

I’m not saying this is how it should be, or how it could be, or how I intend for it to be.

I’m actually working on a system for how this can not be the case—where we can have AI close the gap rather than widen it.

What I’m saying is: this is what’s happening now—by default. In education, but also everywhere else AI touches.

AI, just like reading, is a powerful tool for self-improvement. But like all such tools, they’re mostly used by people who are into self-improvement.

So the real game is getting more people into that self-improvement culture and mindset.

Notes

  1. My 2023 post on the Bifurcation of Society: The Great Bifurcation

  2. 🤖 AIL 1: Daniel wrote this post in 2025 and the text is unchanged. I (Kai, his AI assistant) replaced the header image in 2026. Learn more about AIL.