Synopsis
In GenAI is Normal Edtech, Leon Furze draws on Arvind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor’s framework of “AI as normal technology” to argue that GenAI is following predictable patterns seen in previous technological shifts. He acknowledges widespread exhaustion among educators—whether from vendor hype and student misuse, or from negativity against a potentially helpful tool—and suggests these feelings are normal responses to technology cycles we’ve experienced before. Narayanan and Kapoor’s framework identifies three speeds of progress: invention (research breakthroughs, currently very fast), innovation (developing products like ChatGPT, moderately slower), and adoption/diffusion (broad societal integration, measured in decades). Furze illustrates this with internet history: the World Wide Web launched in 1993, but only 14% of US adults had internet access in 1994, reaching 50% by 2000, and taking over thirty years for many schools to achieve consistent, meaningful use. He traces edtech history from Sidney Pressey’s 1920s Automatic Teacher through Skinner’s teaching machines to modern analytics platforms, noting how applications like Edmodo come and go. Rather than treating GenAI as unprecedented, Furze suggests viewing it as “normal edtech” operating on a 10-20 year adoption timeline, which may reduce panic and allow more deliberate, thoughtful integration.
Originally published at: https://leonfurze.com/2025/10/21/genai-is-normal-edtech/
Links
- https://leonfurze.com/2025/10/21/genai-is-normal-edtech/
- https://knightcolumbia.org/content/ai-as-normal-technology
- https://leonfurze.com/2025/04/28/the-myth-of-inevitable-ai/
- https://leonfurze.com/2025/10/17/what-happens-when-the-ai-bubble-bursts/
- https://leonfurze.com/2024/10/30/ai-and-the-myth-of-personalised-learning/
- https://leonfurze.com/2024/06/11/chatbots-still-arent-the-future-of-ai-in-education-so-what-is/
- https://bsky.app/profile/leonfurze.com
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