AI, Education, and the Morality of Automation
The internet has another high-profile moment in the ongoing debate over artificial intelligence, learning, and integrity. A web developer’s boast about finishing a Coursera course with the help of Comet, Perplexity AI’s advanced browser, drew a stark warning from Aravind Srinivas, the company’s CEO. What began as a lighthearted clip quickly evolved into a serious conversation about how AI tools should or should not be used in the sphere of online education.
The Incident: A 16-Second Demonstration With Big Implications
On X (formerly Twitter), an account user described as a web developer posted a 16-second video showing Comet handling a Coursera training assignment. The prompt was simple: “Complete the assignment.” In seconds, Comet reportedly attempted and completed 12 questions autonomously, seemingly without any manual effort from the user. The user then captioned the post, “Just completed my Coursera course,” tagging Perplexity AI and its CEO. The course in question, however, was titled “AI Ethics, Responsibility and Creativity,” raising immediate questions about the appropriateness of outsourcing learning tasks to AI, especially with respect to ethics and creativity.
The CEO’s Response: A Direct, Unapologetic Warning
Aravind Srinivas did not sugarcoat his reaction. He reposted the clip with a succinct admonition: “Absolutely don’t do this.” The three-word warning quickly spread across social media, triggering a wave of commentary about the responsibilities of AI developers, platform leaders, and learners alike. Srinivas’s stance framed the incident as more than a viral moment—it was a public ethics briefing about how AI tools should be used in educational contexts.
Why This Matters: The AI-education Paradox
The episode highlights a core paradox of modern AI: tools that can dramatically accelerate work and learning can also erode the very foundations of education if misused. When an AI browser can “complete” an ethics course with minimal human input, it begs the question of what such certificates actually signify. Are they indicators of mastery, time management, or simply the ability to prompt AI effectively? And what does this mean for institutions like Coursera that rely on assessments to validate learning?
Public Reactions: Irony, Concern, and Philosophical Debate
Social media users offered a spectrum of reactions. Some cracked jokes about “Frankenstein’s monster” or joked about installing Comet on their own laptops. Others warned that employers may increasingly value AI-assisted results over genuine capability, challenging recruiters and educators to rethink how they assess talent. A common thread: this moment underscored the difficulty of distinguishing real learning progress from AI-facilitated simulation.
What Comet Is—And How It Shapes the Conversation
Perplexity AI’s Comet is positioned as a next-generation AI browser that blends search, automation, and content generation. Users can research, summarize, and automate web-based tasks using natural language prompts. The same capabilities that speed up work can, in the wrong hands, shorten the path to a certificate without corresponding growth in knowledge. The incident invites educators and technologists to think about safeguards, transparent usage guidelines, and new ways to measure learning that resist gaming by automation.
Looking Ahead: Building Better Evaluation Systems
As AI tools become more embedded in daily work and study, institutions may need to adapt by emphasizing critical thinking, practical projects, and reflective assessments that are harder to automate. For developers and startups, the episode serves as a reminder that public perception matters—and that maintaining trust requires clear ethics around how AI is used in education and assessment. Aravind Srinivas’s blunt warning could be read as a call to design tools that enhance learning without undermining its integrity.
Bottom Line
The debate sparked by a viral clip about finishing a Coursera course with Comet’s help is less about a single incident and more about the future of education in an AI-augmented world. It asks a simple, provocative question: should AI assist learning, or should it complete it on its own? The answer, for now, seems to be evolving—and it’s up to educators, platforms, and developers to shape how these powerful tools are used, taught, and evaluated.
