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If artificial intelligence – AI – is the future, then students in Dr. Jen Spiegel’s new class at Elizabeth Forward High School will be positioned to embrace it. 

“I wanted this class to utilize research skills,” said Dr. Speigel, “but I wanted the students to tie it in with what AI is doing.” 

As part of the district’s involvement with Remake Learning Days 2026, Dr. Speigel’s class – AI in Media Ethics – presented its findings in one of two class projects. One set was practical – creating things such as songs – and the other set was theoretical, consisting of presentations which were made on Thursday. 

“I had to create this class from scratch,” said Dr. Speigel, “because no one is really doing this. So, it’s been a lot of experimentation this semester.” 

Juniors and seniors prepared presentations that examined a question based on their interests and arrived at a conclusion. Students explored areas ranging from the military industrial complex to health care. During Thursday’s visit, Senior Nathan Pozzuto (seen in top photo)– who will study Computer Science at the University of Pittsburgh this fall – dove into this question: ‘Will AI replace software engineers?’ His answer? 

“We don’t know yet, basically,” said Pozzuto. “I might be biased, but I think there’s a positive outlook because of some of the stuff I talked about, like the Jevons paradox.” 

Jevons paradox is an economic principle that says technological progress which increases a resource’s efficiency often leads to an increase in that resource’s consumption instead of a decrease.  

“When things get more efficient, it’s tempting to think, ‘OK, all of the jobs are going away,’” said Pozzuto. “But really, maybe we should think there will be more of the output, and there will be the same or more people working- because it’s more efficient- and these companies will benefit from that.” 

It’s heady questions like Nathan’s that Dr. Speigel wants her students to think about in this rapidly changing world. 

“I’m a very big believer that technology is a great tool,” she said, “but if it supplants student learning then it’s not giving us that end goal, which is learning something new.” 

Dr. Speigel’s class featured plenty of scholarly readings which students had to utilize in their presentations, along with more popular media and a field trip to the Google offices in Pittsburgh’s Bakery Square. 

“This was more of a content and ethics-based look at AI,” she added, “but I did manage to squeeze in a new AI platform.”  

Students used Gamma, an AI presentation builder, to create their presentations. But the use of Gamma was not a “plug and play” approach. 

“I wanted the presentations to feature their content, “said Dr. Speigel. “I didn’t want them to sit down and tell AI, ‘Hey, write me a presentation.’ I didn’t want that.” 

The mission: Produce two pages of well-researched notes, featuring all of the readings and sources students wanted to incorporate in their presentation. In Dr. Speigel’s view, the students succeed. 

“It was their content,” she said. “There was no learning lost there.” 

It fuels the idea that technology is only as good as the person used it – or, in this case, the person who is learning how to wield it. 

Said Dr. Speigel: “Nathan touched on a lot of the things that we've talked about this semester related to ethics: Who bears responsibility for what AI does? Whose job is it that the AI is doing? And how do we make sure the output is what we want? 

As for the future of AI and the careers which will be linked with it, Pozzuto is ready for whatever comes his way in computer science—even if ‘Plan A” doesn’t pan out. 

“I have plans B and C, and D. I think this is a good field, and I think there’s a good future there, especially in the city of Pittsburgh,” he said. “From what I’ve heard, there are a lot of people that are optimistic. If the bottom 30% of workers get cut off, I’m just going to work my hardest to not be in the bottom 30%.” 

If Dr. Speigel’s class is any indication, Elizabeth Forward students won’t have to worry about falling behind.