The Download: smarter AI in schools, and a robot “carnival” in Shanghai
The Download: smarter AI in schools, and a robot “carnival” in Shanghai
摘要: The Download
The Download: smarter AI in schools, and a robot “carnival” in Shanghai
Plus: No one really knows how to safely test frontier AI models
正文
The Download
The Download: smarter AI in schools, and a robot “carnival” in Shanghai
Plus: No one really knows how to safely test frontier AI models.
Thomas Macaulay
archive page
August 25, 2026
This is today's edition of
The Download
our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology.
How to encourage smarter AI use in the classroom
Chatbots took schools by surprise. Suddenly, students carried an app in their phones that could magically answer almost any homework question or spin up an essay in seconds.
Organizations ranging from OpenAI to UNESCO encourage AI use in the classroom, but many teachers aren’t sure how to handle it. Yet some promising approaches are emerging.
At Cheshire Academy, for example, teachers are trained on general techniques for using AI rather than prescribed tools. They use generative AI to prepare class materials, and one teacher has developed a traffic light system that tells students when they can use AI for assignments.
The school has also explored specialized tools including an AI platform for educators.
Here’s how it works—and how other teachers can apply it
.
—Peter Hall
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I spent a day at a robot “carnival” in Shanghai. Here’s what I saw.
—You Xiaoying
Applause rings out from the main tent of a robot “carnival” on the outskirts of Shanghai. There, a humanoid wearing a blinged-out top is showing off a martial arts style known as drunken boxing as a fellow humanoid performs a front flip to woo the crowd. The audience can’t get enough. They chant: “More, more, more.”
Humanoid robots are having a moment in China. The popular machines are part of the country’s strategy to bring AI into daily life. Nearly 90% of the more than 13,000 two-armed, two-legged robots delivered globally last year were made in China.