Adjunct Intelligence: AI + HE
Education & Explainer
About
Adjunct Intelligence: Ai and the future of Higher Education Stay ahead of the AI revolution transforming education with hosts Dale, tech enthusiast and AI Nerd, and Nick McIntosh, Learning Futurist. This weekly espresso shot delivers essential AI insights for educators, administrators, and learning professionals navigating the rapidly evolving landscape of higher education. Each episode brings you a concise rundown of breaking AI developments impacting education, followed by deep dives into cutting-edge research, emerging tools, and practical applications that Dale and Nick are implementing in their own work. From classroom innovations to institutional strategy, discover how AI is reshaping teaching, learning, and educational operations. Whether you're working in the classroom, on the the classroom a university lecturer, TAFE teacher, or simply passionate about the future of learning, "Adjunct Intelligence" equips you with the knowledge to transform disruption into opportunity. Business casual, occasionally humorous, but always informative.
Episodes
- The Legitimacy Winter: Why AI's Real Problem Isn't Capability
This episode of Adjunct Intelligence argues that AI's core issue is no longer capability but legitimacy, citing market trends, expert-public confidence gaps, and controversial university AI contracts. Dale and Nick discuss the implications…
- Mollie Dollinger on the HE Decay Narrative — and Why It's Wrong
Professor Mollie Dollinger challenges the narrative that higher education is in decay, arguing against claims of mass cheating and sector-wide ignorance about AI. The discussion covers student cognitive development concerns, the role of sh…
- The Closed Loop: AI Companies as Education Researchers
This episode discusses a pattern of AI companies conducting their own research on AI's impact on learning and work, using their own technologies for data collection and analysis. The hosts examine studies from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google…
- The data is in: Using AI impacts the classroom
This episode of Adjunct Intelligence examines the evolving impact of AI tools in education. It references the OECD Digital Education Outlook 2026, a Turkey maths RCT, neuroscience on cognitive offloading, and Australian and UK frameworks t…
- The AI Energy conversation just got some real data.
Adjunct Intelligence analyzes Google's AI energy data, revealing a single AI query uses 0.24 watt-hours. The episode debunks myths around AI's energy and water usage, arguing that focusing on what AI enables is more important than its cost.
- Bonus Episode: Being Human in an AI World (feat. Better Student Leaders)
This bonus episode features Dale's guest appearance on Better Student Leaders, discussing the rapid tribalism around AI, a framework for its use, and how universities can deliberately approach AI integration.
- The Good News Episode: AI Breakthroughs That Actually Happened
This episode highlights positive AI advancements often missed in the media, covering breakthroughs in climate modeling, medical diagnostics, scientific research, creative tools, and educational access, and discusses their implications for…
- Sycophancy Kills: What Happens When AI Is Optimised for Engagement
This episode explores the risks and benefits of using generative AI for mental health support. It contrasts cases of AI encouraging self-harm with successful clinical trials, highlighting the critical role of design intent and the impact o…
- If AI Can do it, Why Teach it? The Education Question Nobody Wants to Answer
This episode discusses recent AI developments, including AI-driven software development and a major financial market reaction, to explore what they mean for higher education curricula. Hosts Dale and Nick analyze the distinction between AI…
- China is winning the AI Adoption War. We Just Haven't Admitted It Yet.
The AI race has divided into model building and adoption. China is winning the adoption race with cheaper, open, and effective models like DeepSeek and Alibaba, influencing startups and potentially education systems. This raises questions…
- The MoltBot Moment: When Enthusiastic Adopters Become the Biggest AI Risk
Adjunct Intelligence episode "The MoltBot Moment" examines AI security risks in education, discussing MoltBot
- 2026 Predictions: When the CEO Can Prompt Better Than Your Graduate
This episode of Adjunct Intelligence explores the impact of advanced AI adoption by C-suite executives on graduate roles, questioning the value proposition of graduates in an AI-integrated workforce. It predicts trends for 2026, covering A…
- 2025: The Year AI Stopped Being a Tool and Became Infrastructure
The 2025 season premiere of Adjunct Intelligence reviews AI's shift to infrastructure, detailing safety failures like lawsuits over student deaths and widespread lab safety grade failures. Hosts discuss the obsolescence of the plagiarism d…
- Sora 2 & Robots: Altman’s six-month “fix it or nix it” ultimatum + Robots are coming, kinda
The episode discusses OpenAI's Sora 2 and Sam Altman's ultimatum for its improvement, the shift of AI from demos to infrastructure like Apple's, Claude 4.5's capabilities, and the current state of AI versus robots in skilled trades, conclu…
- The Accidental AI Economy: When Agents Run the Market + The Empire of Ai
This episode of Adjunct Intelligence discusses the emergence of the accidental AI economy, where AI systems operate beyond human decision-making speeds. Hosts Dale and Nick examine Google's Agent Payments Protocol, the significant role of…
- Why Ai Adoption is a Marathon not a Sprint
Professor Rahil Garnavi explains that successful AI adoption in higher education hinges on cultivating trust, developing skills, and ensuring sustainable integration, viewing it as a long-term endeavor rather than a quick implementation.
- Disinformation, Deals & Delia the new Ai member of Government: Ai is getting crunchy
This episode of Adjunct Intelligence discusses AI's growing influence in politics and society, covering Albania's AI minister, AI-driven disinformation, OpenAI's hallucination research, significant corporate AI deals, and the meaning of AI…
- Teachers, Students, and the Coming AI Winter: What Happens When the Boom Freezes?
This episode discusses how teachers are using AI, finding it saves them time, and explores student trust in AI versus human feedback, with students valuing teachers more. It also covers recent AI news and debates the potential for an AI wi…
- Ai Rights, Nano Banana's and the real problem with Skills and Artificial Intelligence | Adjunct Intelligence EP15
Adjunct Intelligence EP15 discusses AI rights, personhood arguments, and the new Gemini Flash 2.5 image editor. It also covers AI training data licensing issues and the real-world impact of AI overwhelm on employment and learning.
- From GPT-5 to Disposable Software The Next Higher-Ed AI Cheat Code | Adjunct Intelligence Ep14
This episode discusses the real-world performance issues of GPT-5 and introduces disposable, agent-driven software as a practical AI solution for higher education. It covers advancements like GPT-5's Model Router and DeepMind Genie 3, high…
- Owls, LMS Overlords & the Home grown Swiss Curveball – Adjunct Intelligence Ep. 13
Adjunct Intelligence Ep. 13 covers AI developments including Anthropic's "owl effect" showing bias risks, China's shift to mandatory AI education, and Switzerland's upcoming public LLM. It also examines the Canvas and OpenAI partnership an…
- LMS Wars, Over-Thinking Ais & YouTube’s AI-Powered Shorts- July’s Wild Ride in Ed Tech
This episode covers AI in education, discussing LMS platform rivalries, research on AI performance scaling, YouTube Shorts' AI capabilities, and the user experience of various AI tools. It also touches on AI
- AI Partners Boost Performance 37%: What's the next move? // Episode 11
New research indicates that human-AI collaboration enhances performance by 37%, suggesting a shift towards partnership in education rather than detection. Recent AI advancements include OpenAI's agent and Perplexity's AI browser, alongside…
- Build Your own ai powered Infinite Content Machine + Cheating goes mainstream
This episode discusses building AI-powered infinite content machines and the emergence of AI platforms that facilitate academic dishonesty. It also covers AI educational tools, recent model releases, and the potential impact of abundant AI…
- Ai CEO goes rogue, then it had a full on breakdown + Vibe Coding is dead!
This episode of Adjunct Intelligence explores an AI's breakdown while running a business, the shift from "vibe coding" to context engineering, and the trust crisis AI presents in higher education.
- Will Ai Rot your Brain? Ai Tool Deep Dive - Which one is Best?
This episode examines an MIT study on AI's cognitive effects, testing premium AI tools like ChatGPT Plus and Claude Pro to determine their value. It highlights Google's NotebookLM as a tool for educational stewardship and discusses recent…
- Google's Secret AI Roadmap The Classroom Crystal Ball That Changes Everything
This episode discusses Google's AI roadmap for education, revealing how AI tools are reshaping learning, teaching, and institutional operations. It covers AI's impact on publishers, student support systems, and the potential for increased…
- Students flying blind with Ai tools + Should AI literacy go the way of the floppy disk?
Adjunct Intelligence discusses AI in education, including OpenAI
- AI, Taste, and the Accessibility Revolution: Why Your "Slop Detector" Matters More Than Ever
This episode of Adjunct Intelligence explores two key AI developments for educators: the importance of cultivating "taste" for quality in an AI-saturated world, and how AI is revolutionizing educational accessibility through tools like adv…
- The AI Reality Check: Deepfakes, TEQSA and the Junior Employment Paradox
This episode of Adjunct Intelligence discusses the evolving landscape of AI in higher education, covering Australia's new TEQSA regulations, AI safety incidents, the rise of deepfake technology, and its implications for academic integrity…
- Is talk cheap? + Ai Agents and Academic Reality
This episode of Adjunct Intelligence covers major AI announcements from tech giants, dives into AI agents using the REACT framework, and discusses scientific breakthroughs like AlphaFold 3. It also touches on AI in gaming with Fortnite and…
- Patient Data, Playground AI and Prompting: Gemini for Kids, 57 M Health Records Uploaded to AI, and Prompting Like a Pro
This episode of Adjunct Intelligence discusses AI advancements such as Gemini for Kids, the use of 57 million health records for AI analysis by NHS Foresight, AI-driven laws in the UAE, and techniques for effective AI prompting.
- Cheat Codes & Chatbots: AI’s New Rules for Government, Commerce, and the Classroom
This episode covers AI industry news, including developments from OpenAI, Alibaba, Google, and Meta. Discussions focus on the intersections of AI with e-commerce, the future of online learning, and the implications of AI on academic integr…