‘Einstein‘ bot sharpens debate over AI in the classroom

Amanda Heidt is a freelance writer and editor in Moab, Utah.

Search author on: PubMed Google Scholar
An AI tool named after Albert Einstein (pictured) was taken down shortly after it was released.

Credit: GK History Images/Alamy
On 23 February, academics across the world took to social media to decry the death of education as we know it.

The day before, a technology start-up company called Companion had released an artificial-intelligence platform that pledged to free students from tedious coursework.

Companion chief executive Advait Paliwal told the technology news outlet CNET that Einstein “makes ChatGPT look like a toy”, whereas educators called it “a cheating app”, “evil” and “the ultimate brain smoothing machine”.

Language on the tool’s website shifted after the backlash to downplay the AI’s capabilities, and by 26 February, the bot was no longer accessible after a ‘cease-and-desist’ demand.

Paliwal told Times Higher Education that he would now “concentrate on promoting how the wider Companion AI can be used by students”.

(Attempts by Nature to reach Paliwal received no reply.)
“My first thought when I saw Einstein was ‘game over’,” says Lilian Edwards, a specialist in Internet law and technology policy at Newcastle University, UK, because circumventing it would require instructors “to rearrange [their] assessment strategy entirely”, which would involve substantial effort.

“AI can certainly be useful,” she adds, but the majority of people she knows “think it’s driving a stake through the heart of conventional educational assessment”.

AI has lots of legitimate uses in academia — including writing code , translating texts and correcting grammar — and David Jurgens, a computer scientist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, says it’s nearly impossible to avoid in his field.

As such, he often faces many of the same ethical quandaries as his students.

Jurgens came across another AI, called Professor Feynman , which is essentially Einstein for academics: it promises to free them from the ‘busywork’ of reading and grading essays, responding to discussions and even the need to offer online office hours, by creating a ‘digital twin’ that mimics their voice, mannerisms and teaching style.

“You can imagine a nightmare situation where classes become AIs talking to AIs, with no people actually interacting,” he says.

Rather than adapting his assessments to AI platforms, Jurgens has engaged his students in thoughtful discussions in the classroom.

“Teachers are always going to have to spend time developing and updating their curriculums, and so I’ve tried to make it a more collaborative process,” he says.

“It feels like a better use of my time, and as a result, I do see students being more aware that they’re only hurting themselves in the long term if they’re replacing themselves with these tools.”
Enjoying our latest content?

Log in or create an account to continue
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-00764-w
Collection: ChatGPT’s impact on careers in science
‘Without these tools, I’d be lost’: how generative AI aids in accessibility
ChatGPT for students: learners find creative new uses for chatbots
Six tips for better coding with ChatGPT
‘Obviously ChatGPT’ — how reviewers accused me of scientific fraud
How I turned online misogyny about my PhD into momentum for my career
AI and the PhD student: friend or foe?

PhD students are turning to side hustles to make ends meet, finds Nature poll
Why the crisis in official statistics matters — and how it can be fixed
Universities have become property businesses.

What does that mean for research?

Statistics reach a ‘crisis point’: nations struggle with a critical lack of data
Dopamine takes a hit: how neuroscience is rethinking the ‘feel-good’ chemical
‘RAMmageddon’ hits labs: AI-driven memory shortage is impacting science
CeMM is recruiting two scientists to join as Starting Principal Investigators within a new research program on pain and aging/healthy.

Research Center for Molecular Medicine (CeMM), ÖAW
Profile the cellular components of tissue microenvironments (TME) in healthy and inflamed sites.

Dortmund, Nordrhein-Westfalen (DE)
Leibniz-Institut für Analytische Wissenschaften – ISAS – e.V.

Postdoctoral positions exploring microbiota–stem cell interactions in development, disease & cancer using gnotobiotic models, organoids & multi-omics.

The Chinese Institutes for Medical Research (CIMR), Beijing
Join Huazhong Agricultural University
No.1 Shizishan Street, Hongshan District, Wuhan, Hubei Province, China
Huazhong Agricultural University (HZAU)
SUSTech School of Medicine offers equal opportunities and welcome applicants from the world with all ethnic backgrounds.

Southern University of Science and Technology, School of Medicine