My AI Journal

It’s September 19, 2026, and I’m officially starting my AI journal.

I’m not using any generative AI tools to write this journal (nor do I plan to). That’s not what I mean by “AI journal.”

A digital drawing — created by a human — not generative AI.

This is simply a place where I’d like to record my experiences, observations, and thoughts about AI. I’m thinking it will most likely roll out like an “old-fashioned” blog, a public-facing journal about AI (specifically generative AI), and if I get some time to sit down long enough in our recording studio, it will be available as a podcast, too.

With the influx of generative AI tools already impacting the daily lives of nearly every single person I know, including my family and young children, I will say that I do see one possible positive development so far:  this technology is impelling (some of) us to question it — and in doing so, we are having conversations about our actual intelligence, how we learn, how we remember, how we create, and how we interact with one another.

My hope, as of today, is that the ubiquitous introduction of generative AI, which is truly something that not a single one of us has experienced before or fully understands yet, will lead to a deeper understanding of how our brains work and develop, cognitive processes, emotional intelligence, emotional regulation, and neurodiversity.

I am hoping that as some schools are looking to develop AI policies and attempting to teach students to use generative AI (while other schools have paused the conversation until more information is available) that they will first invest a good deal of thought into how different this technology is from other technology resources we have used before.

Generative AI is very different, even from other AI resources. (We are not talking about calculators, closed captioning, or speech to text functions here, and I worry when I hear people — especially educators — compare generative AI to that type of technology.) They are not the same thing at all in purpose, process, or product, and they are especially not the same when it comes to the impact they have on people, because of their impact on cognition, creativity, empathy, and emotional regulation.

So, I hope that if/as generative AI is utilized in schools, in all the ways I keep hearing it can “help,” we will also see an increase in personalized learning practices, understanding unique learning styles and needs, and that metacognition, goal setting, reflective practices, problem-solving, and executive functioning skills will become a priority, so that they are effectively and consistently taught in our schools.

As both a mother of young children and an educator for over two decades, I can’t help but pay close attention to the research on all of the topics mentioned above, about how the use of generative AI can lead to an over-reliance on the tool, can cause cognitive stunting, can erode critical thinking skills, and how it can impact social-emotional development.

To be continued….

Melissa Morris Inoa is the founder of INOAVATION. She is an educator with over twenty years of experience and has two young children of her own. Since the beginning of her career, she has sought out, researched, and embraced educational technology resources in order to support teaching and learning and has trained with Google, Apple, and many other edtech companies and, in turn, she shares her knowledge and experiences in order to help train other educators. Melissa has experience in public and private educational settings and has worked alongside many dedicated educators over the years, including one Director of Technology who would regularly reflect on the implementation of new technology resources with the phrase: “Just because we can doesn’t mean we should.” That purposeful pause has since become an important and powerful part of her own mindful, intentional, and sustainable daily practices and, in particular, is called to mind now when considering the use of generative AI.