Mike Kentz's Recent LinkedIn Posts

A few weeks ago, I attended two conferences focusing on AI's impact on education and the workforce. The The Urban Assembly, Inc. and Google's AI Summit 2026 and Independent Colleges and Universities of New Jersey Annual Conference both brought industry leaders and educators together into the same room. What struck me was the alignment across industry leaders when they spoke about how they wanted education to shift in response to AI. I thought they might say, "We need you to teach them how to use these tools well." Instead, they each spoke about the dearth of "human" or "durable" skills in the employees they find themselves hiring. “I can teach the tech skills, I can teach the domain-specific skills…what we need is to figure out how to teach the human skills – how to teach future-proof skills that set an employee up for success no matter what domain they find themselves in,” said Steve Jones of AIG on one panel. The gap in the education and training industries between what we are teaching and what industries want is wide. While most education institutions are grappling between delivering content knowledge and teaching AI, industry is signaling that they want something different. It'll be interesting to see how educators respond to this shift. What institutions out there are shifting toward the "human skill" model that industry is clamoring for? Doan Winkel Nick Potkalitsky, PhD Phillip Alcock Jason Gulya Ethan Mollick David Adams

Most educators already know the problem with AI in the classroom: when ChatGPT does the thinking, students stop learning. The struggle is the part that teaches — and the helpful assistant removes it. So we build chatbots designed to do the opposite. They push back. They make students work. We call it productive friction. Here's one of my favorites. In this new Friction Bot, I designed a character who isn't skeptical — she's the opposite. Gloria Tramonte owns a bakery, she has a real business problem, and she genuinely wants help. The catch? She doesn't understand jargon. She needs the math explained like she's 10 — and she needs you to stay patient while you do it. Her design proves something I didn't expect when I started building these: chatbots can work in STEM, even mathematics. Not because Gloria teaches your student how to do the math — but because your student has to teach the math to her. She's one of 100+ frictional experiences I've built for AI Friction Labs. We're actively running betas with K-12 and Higher Ed institutions right now. If you want to see what productive friction looks like in your classroom, visit aifrictionlabs.com or reach out to me directly. #AI #AIinEducation #SJT Nick Potkalitsky, PhD Phillip Alcock Doan Winkel Dr. Alfonso Mendoza Jr. Kanoe Namahoe Ashlee Russell, M.Ed. Lance Eaton, PhD