Mosaic Book of the Term Prize Draw Summer 2025
Written by Rob Caudwell, Co-Founder of Penrose Education
30 June 2025
At Penrose Education we are on a mission to fill the (teacher development) world with thoughtfully designed and effective EdTech. But we also want to fill the (teacher development) world with books.
Each term we will be reviewing a book we have found helpful, interesting and/or thought-provoking in our attempts to develop our understanding of what exceptional teacher training, education and professional development looks like.
Best of all – you could win a copy of one of these books in our Book of the Term Prize Draw!
Our chosen book this term is: Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI, by Ethan Mollick.
Why we chose this book?
This is the first time we have chosen a Book of the Term that hasn’t been directly related to Teacher Development. I’m also fairly confident (with absolutely no offence intended to the wonderful authors of our previous books) that it is the first time we have chosen a New York Times Bestseller.
There are many interesting books being written specifically about the challenges of – and opportunities for – using AI in education, and we may well choose some of those for future prize draws. However, with some experts in the field now predicting that AI’s impact is likely to “exceed that of the Industrial Revolution” within the coming decade, many of the people I speak to are looking for foundational information about what these new technologies are, and what the broad implications of the continued advancement of AI could be for us all. Mollick’s book seeks to do just this, offering an introductory overview to this new technology and how life and work might be about to change or, indeed, how they already are.
The book is divided into two main sections. The first sets out in accessible, largely non-technical ways what Large Language Models (LLMs) are – the new AI models that everyone is so excited and/or terrified and/or confused about. It explains how LLMs have been created and subsequently “trained” (as well as explaining why we use the word “trained”). It then unpacks why LLMs are so different from any previous technological development, and how this makes them both potentially powerful and very weird. The second section looks at the implications this new technology has for us. It gives a lot of practical advice for how we can make the most of its strengths (and protect against its weaknesses), while also trying to outline the broader implications for us as workers, learners, thinkers and humans.
The potential wider changes to the world and society that AI may be in the process of introducing have huge implications for how we think about teaching and teacher development, hence our decision to choose it as our Book of the Term. Whether you are overwhelmed by the explosion of AI everywhere and feel like you are already behind, you are excited by the potential of AI but aren’t sure where to start, or you are deeply suspicious and sceptical of AI – either that it is simply over-hyped, or potentially seriously dangerous – this book is a really helpful guide. It will help anyone who wants to think deeply about this new ‘intelligent’ technology – and what it means to live and work alongside it.
If you aren’t lucky enough to win, you can always pick up a copy from Penguin!
"[Humans] have invented technologies, from axes to helicopters, that boost our physical capabilities; and others, like spreadsheets, that automate complex tasks; but we have never built a generally applicable technology that can boost our intelligence. Now humans have access to a tool that can emulate how we think and write, acting as a co-intelligence to improve (or replace) our work."
- pxix-xx
What we've taken from it
The first thing that I appreciated about this book, is that the author does not naïvely assume AI will inevitably be a force for good. In the tech bubble, there can often be a default assumption that exciting, new technology will always improve the world. Mollick is not so sure. While he does explicitly encourage everyone to explore how they could use AI to support and enhance their work and lives – this is an author, very much with his eyes open to the risks, dangers and downsides of AI too.
Throughout the book, Mollick regularly unpacks what some of the short- and long-term consequences of an increasing use and dependence on AI might be for us as a species. Alongside some of the exciting, positive implications (more on these below), many of these consequences are obviously not positive (e.g. AI-powered crime or AI-enabled dictatorship). But possibly where some of the most serious dangers lie are where the downsides are less obvious or more ambiguous – things that may have hidden side-effects or negatives that we don’t fully realise straight away. In a world of excitement, hype and big-business-marketing, it’s helpful to read the perspective of someone who seems to be honestly weighing up the strengths and weaknesses, the opportunities and threats of AI, and plotting a sensible course through the noise.
"we have an AI whose capabilities are unclear, both to our own intuitions and to the creators of the systems. One that sometimes exceeds our expectations and at other times disappoints us with fabrications. One that is capable of learning, but often misremembers vital information. In short, we have an AI that acts very much like a person, but in ways that aren't quite human."
- p26
"Another consequence [of becoming increasingly reliant on AI] is that we could reduce the quality and depth of our thinking and reasoning. When we use AI to generate our first drafts, we don't have to think as hard or as deeply about what we write. We rely on the machines to do the hard work of analysis and synthesis, and we don't engage in the critical and reflective thinking ourselves."
- p120
An example of this that I was particularly pleased to see that Mollick had identified, were/are the potential impacts that increasing use of AI might have on the depth and quality of our own thinking – and by extension on our learning. A potentially good-sounding consequence of using AI tooling, is that it can make thinking easier – we can outsource elements of the thinking process to a helpful ‘intelligent’ machine that can pull ideas together, process and summarise information, clarify arguments, make suggestions and write first drafts (or write final drafts!). This can be incredibly helpful, but the obvious consequence is that by making our ‘thinking’ easier in this way, by outsourcing it, we then no longer have to do this thinking ourselves. Partly (or fully!) removing our own brains from the ‘thinking’ process, comes with potential costs. Mollick addresses this in multiple places in his book. When done with support from AI, the quality of the end result (the article, the lines of code, the email, the policy) might be the same or even better, but the quality of our thinking during the process of creation may have been much poorer. This reduction in our thinking quality could have significant, long-term downsides.
It is for this reason that I still don’t use AI when writing blogs/articles/essays/presentations/etc – not because I think I am a better writer than the best LLM’s out there – but because I want to have actually deeply thought about anything I’m claiming to have deeply thought about. I’m aware that a future version of me may look back on this resistance with exasperation, but there is some recently published research which suggests I may be on to something here.
(Side note: This topic is something that I have written about with my co-founder Paul Mallaband, specifically within the context of teacher education, training and development – for the Chartered College of Teaching’s recently published Special Edition Impact Journal on AI – which you can read here.)
A second thing that I really liked about the book, is how much of it was directly relevant for those working in teacher training, education and development. While the book isn’t focused on education, it still has plenty to say about both education and professional development. In addition to the general points Mollick makes regularly throughout the book about the potential losses to thinking (and associated learning) whenever we outsource intelligent work to AI (see section 1 above), he also includes a lot of fascinating examples of how he has tried to incorporate the use of AI into his teaching of business and management courses at the University of Pennsylvania. Furthermore, he specifically dedicates two chapters to education: Chapter 7 looks at the potential role for using AI as a personal tutor and Chapter 8 looks at attempts to use AI as a coach. While this book isn’t specifically written for those working in education, there is much in it for those of us who are!
In Chapter 7, Mollick unpacks the emerging possibilities of AI-powered tutoring. If (a big if!) designed thoughtfully and carefully, AI tools could begin to offer every learner personalised support in, help with and adjustments to their learning. Mollick does highlight the short- and longer-term risks and considerations for using AI tutoring tools. But with the potential opportunity to give highly personalised, ‘intelligent’ support to all learners, at a fraction of the cost of employing 1-to-1 human tutors, Mollick makes the case that it should be something we at least begin to cautiously explore. He then gives some interesting and helpful starting points for how we might best test the use of AI in the role of tutor, while working to protect against some of the potential negative side-effects or hidden costs.
"[But deliberate practice] is very hard. It requires a plan, as well as a coach who can continually provide feedback and mentorship. Good coaches are rare, and are skilled experts in their own right, making it hard to get the coaching required for success in deliberate practice. AI may be able to help directly address these issues, creating a better training system than we have today."
- p184
In Chapter 8, Mollick then follows this with complementary considerations around the use of AI in the role of a mentor or coach. With tutoring you are using AI to support the personalisation of the teaching and assessment of content. But AI could (and already can) also be used to support critical reflection or metacognitive processes, and to provide supportive feedback to someone trying to improve their practice. If you think that sounds implausible, he gives some pretty compelling examples of this in action that may surprise you! However, as you will probably now be expecting, Mollick is also careful to include plenty of warnings and discussion of potential risks.
These caveats aside, Mollick does ultimately encourage us to think about the potential benefits of having an always available, non-judgemental mentor or coach to help a learner to think more deeply about whatever it is they are learning, or to wrestle with any particular issues they are struggling with. I don’t think Mollick would say that this could or should replace human mentoring or coaching (or at least not yet, who knows what any of us will be saying in 5/10/20 years time!). But the author is clear that AI mentoring and coaching already has the potential to add powerful additional supportive functionality to our professional development programmes.
We recently supported the Teacher Development Trust’s inaugural David Monis Weston Lecture, in which David gave a really helpful introduction to a variety of ways AI is already being used to support the the development of teacher expertise, including using AI to support coaching processes. You can watch this lecture via TDT’s CPD Leadership Hub here (you will need to create a free account first).
"Today's decisions about how AI reflects human values and enhances human potential will reverberate for generations. This is not a challenge to be solved in a lab - it requires society to grapple with the technology shaping the human condition and what future we want to create."
- p45
"There is a sense of poetic irony in the fact that as we move toward a future characterized by greater technological sophistication, we find ourselves contemplating deeply human questions about identity, purpose and connection. To that extent, AI is a mirror, reflecting back to us our best and worst qualities. We are going to decide on its implications, and those choices will shape what AI actually does for, and to, humanity."
- p212
The third thing and final thing that I have taken from this book, is it’s strong call for us to proactively shape how AI is and will be a part of our lives. Over the past few years, I have occasionally been guilty of thinking of the roll out of the current wave of AI technology is something that is largely happening to all of us. Mollick is repeatedly clear throughout his book that we have agency and choice in how we engage with and use this new technology, and that these choices will shape where we might discover the potential benefits of this new technology to be for us.
Early in the book, the author notes that because of the nature of how this new technology has been built and how it works, there is likely never going to be a definitive ‘handbook’ on AI that gives clear explanations about exactly how it works or universal guidance on how we should therefore use it. This can feel incredibly unnerving as it puts the responsibility firmly back onto each of us to determine whether and how we should use this new technology; and to discover how we can best realise our intentions using it.
But on the other hand, there is also something freeing and empowering about this. No one has established the ‘correct’ way to use AI. The author argues that it is for each of us to think deeply about who we are, what we value and what we are trying to achieve (whether personally or professionally). Then to shape our cautious and thoughtful use of AI around these core foundational considerations. Rather than passively waiting to be told what AI will do for us (or to us), we can all begin having these conversations with ourselves, with our families, with our colleagues and with our communities as we co-create and co-discover the potential roles for this incredibly powerful new technology in our lives. Mollick freely acknowledges that AI is probably going to become an increasingly significant part of all of our lives, but he is also adamant that this future is one that we can (and should!) all help to shape.
"We have created a weird alien mind, one that isn't sentient but can fake it remarkably well. It is trained on the vast archives of human knowledge, and also on the backs of low-paid workers. It can pass tests and act creatively, with the potential to change how we work and learn; but it also makes up information regularly. You can no longer trust that anything you see, or hear, or read was not created by AI. All of that already happened. Humans, walking and talking bags of water and trace chemicals that we are, have managed to convince well-organized sand to pretend to think like us."
- p193
How Mosaic is exploring the potential roles for AI in ITE
Mosaic has begun exploring how AI can support teacher education by enhancing target setting and reflective practice for trainee and student teachers. Our early prototypes aim to provide student-teachers with personalised feedback and prompts to facilitate goal setting and deeper reflection, while ensuring mentors and providers maintain oversight and professional judgment. We’re developing these tools in close partnership with educators to ensure AI is used thoughtfully, transparently, and always as an optional support, strengthening – not replacing – human connection in ITE.
How can I win a copy?
We are giving away three copies of Mollick’s book to anyone working in positions related to teacher education, training and development.
Click the button below to be in with a chance to win.
Entries close 11:59pm on the 31st August 2025. We will randomly select the lucky winners on the 1st September 2025.