This worksheet follows Episode 9, Shrreya Loomba and Aly Muhammad Dadwani's conversation with Ajay Shah. It suits senior school or introductory university students, and works for solo study too. Print it, or answer as you go.
Key concepts
- 1991 reforms
- Research culture
- Incentives
- Populism
- AI as tutor
- AI as critic
- Trade barriers
Before you listen
Answer these before pressing play.
How do you use AI for schoolwork? Does it help you learn?
What do you think makes a team of people do their best thinking?
If you could change one thing about India's economy, what would it be?
While you listen
Keep an ear out for each of these.
Why he moved from engineering to economics.
What pulled him back to India.
The three institutions he draws on, and what they show.
The two uses of AI he thinks are worth it.
His answer to the single-reform question.
After you listen
Check your comprehension.
What three questions does he think matter most today?
Why does he say homework and projects no longer work as they used to?
What is the difference between AI as a tutor and AI as a critic?
Why does he think a proof nobody understands is not mathematical knowledge?
Think deeper
Open-ended. There is no single right answer.
Design a homework task that AI could not simply do for a student. What makes it work?
Do you agree with his one reform for India? Argue for it or for an alternative.
One question I still have
Write the question this episode left you with.