![\"\"](\"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru325\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/307\/2026\/10\/peacock.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My mother-in-law sent the image and words in our family group chat.
My first thought was: Oh no.
She was an elementary school educator and administrator for more than 40 years. She is intelligent, insightful, and inspiring; education is her passion. She is a true lifelong learner and is generous with her wisdom. Facebook allows her to stay connected, engaged, informed, and entertained. But, connected to what? Engaged with and informed by whom? And, in the example given, entertained by the images of a false digital world that degrades what we know and not yet know. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
My second thought was: we have all been duped though, even if just for a moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I asked ChatGPT \u201chow is AI like a peacock?\u201d and they replied \u201cAI is like a peacock because it can put on an impressive display: fluent answers, striking images, and confident explanations. But beautiful feathers don\u2019t tell you whether a peacock is wise \u2013 and polished AI output doesn\u2019t guarantee it\u2019s accurate, fair, or grounded in understanding. The display can draw us in; we still need to look closely at what\u2019s behind it.\u201d (OpenAI, 2026). Throughout time peacocks have been admired and valued for their colourful beauty and magnificent plumage with eye-shaped markings\u2026watching us watch it. Blink! Blink again! See the truth!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 1623 Willam Shakespeare wrote the Tempest and in 1932 Aldous Huxley wrote Brave New World and both addressed uncritical trust and ignorance in their written works: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nO wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O, brave new world,
That has such people in ‘t! (Shakespeare, 2015, 5.1.215-218).<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\nAlas, time marches on as we collectively learn how to decipher and decode the 4th industrial revolution while we simultaneously rocket into the 5th industrial revolution. To keep up, to stay relevant, to give our students the foundation they need to succeed, my team has been tasked to review JIBC\u2019s law enforcement studies program to see what content might be discontinued and what content might need to be included as the evolution of the program must match real world evolution; transformation must occur so that we can see past the plumage and hype and prepare to work with AI in real world situations. To think critically about what we hear, say, and see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What I see: A required AI course where educators, subject matter experts, agencies, facilitators and students engaged in transparent, hybrid, and interdisciplinary discourse \u2013 thinking critically, acting ethically, learning together to ensure justice (in and out of the classroom) in the age of AI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I told my mother-in-law about my upcoming assignment and was curious what she envisioned for 2035. She said that justice is desperately needed and that nothing could replace teachers; a good teacher brings kindness, firmness, and compassionate humanity to the everyday\u2026and a baby peacock for show and tell wouldn\u2019t hurt either!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
References
Huxley, A. (1932). Brave new world. Chatto & Windus.
OpenAI. (2026, October 12). How is AI like a peacock? [Generative AI chat]. ChatGPT. [https:\/\/chatgpt.com\/s\/t_6acda28cc0dc8191a22fb93b6cf5aed1<\/a>]
Phoenix Art Museum. (2021, July 7). The symbolism of peacocks. https:\/\/phxart.org\/blog\/the-symbolism-of-peacocks\/<\/a>
Shakespeare, W. (2015, July 31). The tempest: Act 5, scene 1. Folger Shakespeare Library. https:\/\/www.folger.edu\/explore\/shakespeares-works\/the-tempest\/read\/5\/1\/<\/a>
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\u201cLook at this baby peacock! I didn\u2019t realize they were so beautiful!\u201d (S. Domaas, personal communication, April 17, 2023). My mother-in-law sent the image and words in our family group chat. My first thought was: Oh no. She was an elementary school educator and administrator for more than 40 years. She is intelligent, insightful, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":345,"featured_media":243,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lrnt523"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru325\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru325\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru325\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru325\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/345"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru325\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru325\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":251,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru325\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237\/revisions\/251"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru325\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru325\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru325\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru325\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}