JOANNE JACOBS: No need to listen, read, write or think: AI will do college for you.

Going to lectures, reading and writing aren’t necessary, reports Matthew Gault on 404. Companion claims to have developed an agentic AI tool called Einstein that will log into Canvas, a popular edtech platform, to complete assignments, participate in discussions and take tests with no input needed from the “student.”

I suspect it’s not real. The link to Einstein’s website doesn’t work for me, and I wonder if it’s a way to scare professors away from using edtech platforms that are susceptible to cheating. But, these days, who knows?

“Universities…by and large adopted a transactive model of education,” said Matthew Kirschenbaum, a University of Virginia professor, who’s written about the impact of artificial intelligence. “Students see their diploma as a credential” that will be “the springboard to economic stability and prosperity.”

If students are paying for the credential — not for learning — then why not have AI do the work?

That’s the real question, isn’t it?