{"id":1870,"date":"2025-11-03T17:36:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T16:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/laurenswaling.com\/?p=1870"},"modified":"2026-01-15T17:36:57","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T16:36:57","slug":"lets-stop-expecting-ai-to-be-perfect-and-start-learning-with-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/laurenswaling.com\/?p=1870&lang=en","title":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s Stop Expecting AI to Be Perfect \u2014 and Start Learning With It"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Last week, I had the privilege of speaking for thirty HR professionals from primary schools in Central Netherlands, during a Transvita session on AI and the Future of Work in Education.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We talked about artificial intelligence, but the deeper conversation was about something far more human: how we deal with mistakes.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Education knows this truth: learning means failing forward<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In education, we\u2019ve always known that progress comes with trial and error. We tell our students to try again, reflect, improve.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yet, when it comes to AI, we suddenly expect perfection. One glitch, one inaccuracy, and headlines scream: \u201cAI is unreliable!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That reaction says more about us than about the technology. Because if there\u2019s one thing we should have learned by now, it\u2019s that imperfection is part of intelligence \u2014 human or artificial.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

During our session, someone beautifully said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cAI feels like a senior student \u2014 quick, confident, but not yet fully understanding what it\u2019s saying.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Exactly. AI is not a teacher yet. It\u2019s a learner, just like us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Two kinds of AI \u2014 and two kinds of trust<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s make an essential distinction:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Specialized AI<\/strong> \u2014 algorithms trained on curated data for specific purposes: predicting student absenteeism, supporting lesson planning, matching teachers and tasks. When designed ethically, these systems are explainable, measurable, and trustworthy.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Generative AI<\/strong> \u2014 like ChatGPT, Copilot or Gemini \u2014 are large language models trained on vast amounts of text. They don\u2019t know<\/em>; they predict<\/em>. They make mistakes, but they also open creative doors we couldn\u2019t imagine before.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    One type offers precision. The other offers imagination. We need both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n\n\n

    The obsession with \u201cAI errors\u201d misses the point<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Recently, the BBC tested over 3,000 prompts across AI systems and found inaccuracies in about 45% of answers. That sounds alarming \u2014 until you realize that means how many results were accurate, or at least still very useful.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If any human team answered 3,000 complex news questions correctly 55% of the time, we\u2019d call that impressive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The question isn\u2019t: \u201cDoes AI make mistakes?\u201d<\/em> It\u2019s: \u201cDoes AI help us perform better than we would without it?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Just like with Google Maps: sometimes it sends you down the wrong street \u2014 but no one prefers driving without navigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    AI, too, can be wrong and still make us right more often.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n\n\n

    Let\u2019s build comfort with imperfection<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    We need to shift our mindset from \u201cCan we trust AI?\u201d<\/em> to \u201cHow can we use AI wisely, knowing it will sometimes fail?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Because the truth is: AI will always make mistakes.<\/strong> And so will we. But together, we can make fewer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    When teachers, HR professionals, and leaders learn to use AI as a reflective partner \u2014 not as an oracle \u2014 something beautiful happens. We stop fearing failure and start seeing it as feedback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n\n\n

    AI as a mirror of our humanity<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    The moment we use AI, we confront our own cognitive biases, shortcuts, and blind spots. AI doesn\u2019t just imitate us \u2014 it reveals us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    When an algorithm \u201challucinates,\u201d it exposes how easy it is to sound confident and still be wrong. When a model amplifies bias, it reminds us that discrimination was already in the data \u2014 because it was already in us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    So maybe AI isn\u2019t just a mirror of intelligence. Maybe it\u2019s a mirror of our collective humility.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n\n\n

    HR and education: leading the culture of learning<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    During the Transvita session, one question echoed through the room: \u201cWhat role should HR play in renewing education?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    My answer: HR can be the first to model what learning looks like in the age of AI. Not by controlling everything, but by creating psychological safety \u2014 the space where people can explore, make mistakes, and still feel trusted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If teachers are expected to help students learn from errors, then HR must help staff learn from theirs \u2014 including the digital ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n\n\n

    From fear to flow<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    When I see educators experimenting with AI \u2014 testing, doubting, laughing, improving \u2014 I see hope. Not blind optimism, but responsible curiosity.<\/strong> A willingness to dance with uncertainty instead of freezing in fear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This is what innovation really means: Not perfection, but participation. Not control, but co-creation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n\n\n

    My invitation to you<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Let\u2019s stop treating AI as an exam we\u2019re grading. Let\u2019s treat it as a partner we\u2019re learning with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    AI makes mistakes \u2014 and that\u2019s okay. So do we.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But when we learn together, we accelerate human progress. And maybe that\u2019s the real intelligence we\u2019ve been seeking all along.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Send me a DM or leave a comment if you would like to receive my presentation.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Last week, I had the privilege of speaking for thirty HR professionals from primary schools in Central Netherlands, during a Transvita session on AI and the Future of Work in Education. We talked about artificial intelligence, but the deeper conversation was about something far more human: how we deal with mistakes. Education knows this truth: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1872,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,32,17],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/laurenswaling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1870"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/laurenswaling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/laurenswaling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laurenswaling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laurenswaling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1870"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/laurenswaling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1870\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1871,"href":"https:\/\/laurenswaling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1870\/revisions\/1871"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laurenswaling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/laurenswaling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laurenswaling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laurenswaling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}