Everyone’s debating AI’s impact on jobs, politics, and innovation—but few are asking what it means for education and the moral development of the next generation.
Alan Hahn, Ed.D., Founder & CEO of Iron Academy in Raleigh, NC, has been preparing for this moment long before ChatGPT and classroom bots became headlines. His all-boys academy is built around a model that prioritizes deep thinking, leadership, and character formation—the very qualities most at risk in an AI-saturated era.
Now, as AI reshapes everything from grading and college admissions to truth itself, Alan is in ongoing dialogue with national AI experts—including one advising the White House—about what comes next for schools, parents, and communities.
I had a chance to learn more in this interview.
1. You’ve said AI is not just a technological shift but a civilizational one. What do you mean by that, and how is it already reshaping how young people learn and form identity?
AI isn’t just changing what we can do—it’s changing how people become who they are.
Recent findings in neuropsychology—something I’ve been studying extensively and am currently working through in a year-long course—show that identity is formed through relationships, repeated experiences, and what researchers describe as joyful attachment—that sense of being known, glad to be with, and guided by others. But increasingly, young people are forming identity through interaction with machines rather than people.
That’s a civilizational shift.
At Iron Academy, we see the temptation clearly: boys can outsource thinking, avoid struggle, and bypass the very processes that form identity. But identity is not built through ease—it’s forged through challenge, responsibility, and relationships.
That’s why we emphasize resisting drift, passivity, and identity confusion in an AI-shaped world.
We are intentionally building environments where boys must think, act, relate, and grow—not just consume or perform.
We are not anti-technology—but we are deeply intentional about how we use it. We will use AI where it helps us educate more effectively, but never in ways that replace thinking, weaken relationships, or subtly introduce a worldview that is at odds with our own. The goal is always to protect and strengthen what is most human—intellectual effort, real relationships, and embodied formation.
I also believe we are heading toward a clear divide: a smaller group of people who root their identity in time-tested reality—classical virtues and what we’ve always known to be good, true, and beautiful—and a much larger group who drift into a dopamine-driven, AI-shaped unreality where identity is constantly shifting and externally reinforced.
2. You talk about the “democratization and commoditization” of AI and the disruption it will bring to both K–12 and higher education. Which institutions are most at risk, and why?
AI is democratizing access to knowledge—but exposing a deeper truth: information is not the same as formation.
Recent research in neuropsychology shows that real growth happens through relational attachment, identity reinforcement, and repeated lived experience. AI can deliver information instantly, but it cannot form character, maturity, or wisdom.
That’s why institutions built primarily on content delivery are most at risk. I would guess ¼ of our colleges and ¼ of our private schools will fail.
This is one of the reasons I’ve been reading deeply in neuropsychology—it’s reshaping how I think about formation, especially spiritual formation, which is ultimately the responsibility of parents first, and particularly mothers in the day-to-day life of the home.
At Iron Academy, we’ve shifted toward what cannot be automated: disciplined thinking, communication, and truth discernment.
That also shapes how we approach AI. We use it selectively—primarily to support preparation and reinforce learning—but we draw clear boundaries where its use would short-circuit thinking, diminish responsibility, or weaken the relational and spiritual formation of our students. One of our core initiatives is forming young men who can think clearly, speak truthfully, and discern wisely in a confused world.
Education that forms the whole person will endure. Education that only transfers information will struggle.
And that divide is already beginning to show—between those being formed in reality, discipline, and truth, and those increasingly shaped by convenience, stimulation, and artificial environments.
3. Many schools only think about AI in terms of cheating. What are they missing about how AI will affect attention, discernment, and formation in students?
When schools focus on AI as a cheating issue, they’re missing the deeper problem: formation.
AI is reshaping attention, discernment, and identity. Students are losing the ability to sustain focus, evaluate truth, and develop internal conviction.
From a formation perspective, this makes sense—if identity forms through effort, relationships, and repeated practice, then removing those elements weakens formation at its core.
And this has direct implications for the home. What we’re learning from neuropsychology is confirming something Scripture has always pointed to: formation happens relationally, not just informationally—which places an incredibly important role on parents, especially mothers, in shaping identity day by day.
At Iron Academy, we’re asking different questions:
We also constantly evaluate whether any use of AI is strengthening or weakening formation. If it replaces effort, reduces attention, or isolates students from real human interaction, we pull it back. Technology must serve formation—not compete with it.
- Can a student sit in deep thought?
- Can he discern truth from what merely sounds convincing?
- Can he stand on conviction when it’s costly?
The real danger isn’t cheating—it’s raising young people who never develop the capacity to think or stand.
That’s what creates the long-term divide: those who can think, discern, and stand in reality—and those who are constantly reacting to whatever the algorithm feeds them next.
4. You make a distinction between “truth” (lowercase) and capital-T “Truth.” How will AI make lowercase truth more unstable, and why do you believe capital-T Truth will become more valuable and scarce?
AI will make lowercase-t “truth” (information) increasingly unstable. It can generate convincing but false content, mimic authority, and blur the line between real and artificial.
Research in neuropsychology and human development reminds us that people don’t live by information alone—they live by identity, attachment, and trust.
That’s why capital-T Truth becomes more important, not less.
Without something fixed and external to anchor us, people drift toward whatever feels most persuasive or comfortable. That’s exactly the kind of drift we’re seeing—and training against.
At Iron Academy, we anchor identity in something deeper and unchanging, because without that, formation collapses into confusion.
We make this practical through a clear set of identity statements—what we call ForgePoint identities—framed as “we are people who…”:
- Leave people and places better than we found them — engaging culture and creation redemptively and working for the flourishing of others.
- Reject passivity, pursue holiness, and return quickly to the Lord — living with repentance, purpose, and restored direction.
- Steward our bodies, minds, time, and calling with discipline — guarding our hearts and training our appetites for what is good, true, and beautiful.
- Honor women and pursue sexual integrity — treating every woman with dignity and walking in purity of heart, mind, and body.
- Serve sacrificially in the church, community, and Kingdom — giving our time, talents, and energy for God’s glory and the good of others.
- Lead with a shepherd’s heart and a warrior’s courage — guiding with compassion while standing firm in truth and responsibility.
- Honor the image of God in every person — showing respect, extending forgiveness, and speaking words that build others up.
- Live as disciples of Jesus — loving His Word, obeying it, and helping others follow Him.
- Live as joyful warriors — enduring hardship with hope while advancing what is good, true, and beautiful.
- Embrace discipline and diligence — welcoming correction, sharpening one another, and pursuing excellence for God’s glory.
These repeated identity anchors help stabilize young men in a world where everything else is shifting.
We use these statements both to correct and to encourage. When a young man falls short, we don’t just address behavior—we call him back to who he is. And when he lives them out, we reinforce that identity. In this way, correction and encouragement are both rooted in identity, not just performance.
That conviction also governs our use of technology. We are careful not to adopt tools or systems that quietly reshape how students see truth, authority, or reality itself. AI must remain a tool under a coherent worldview—not a force that reshapes it.
In a world where “truth” becomes unstable, the people anchored in real Truth will become increasingly rare—and increasingly needed.
5. From your vantage point at Iron Academy, what human capacities can never be automated, and how do you intentionally form those in your students?
AI will replace many skills—but it cannot replace formation.
There are human capacities that must be developed in relationship and community:
- Character
- Wisdom
- Relational presence
- Moral courage
- Identity grounded in purpose
At Iron Academy, we form these intentionally through brotherhood, accountability, challenge, and identity-based discipleship.
We are especially focused on developing the kinds of young men who will flourish in the world that’s coming: those with exceptional relational skills, who can build trust across generations, who have developed grit through overcoming real obstacles, and who are capable of deep, sustained work in a distracted age.
We also create opportunities for this formation through high-adventure experiences—trips that require planning, decision-making, endurance, and resilience. These moments push young men beyond comfort, force real growth, and give them stories and confidence that can’t be manufactured in a classroom.
AI can support parts of the learning process, but it cannot replace presence, mentorship, or the kind of relational sharpening that forms character. So we use it in limited, purposeful ways—always asking whether it is strengthening or harming students physically, spiritually, and relationally.
Our ForgePoint framework is built around shared identity language—“we are people who…”—which helps young men internalize who they are and how they live.
As we say, formation doesn’t start with behavior—it starts with identity, and behavior follows.
6. In practical terms, how are young people not being prepared for an AI-dominant workforce—and what should parents and educators be doing differently over the next 5–10 years?
Many young people are being prepared for a world that no longer exists.
They’re trained for compliance, memorization, and system navigation—areas where AI will outperform humans.
But the future will reward something different: deep thinking, resilience, discernment, initiative, leadership, and the ability to relate well across generations.
The young men best positioned for that future will not just be knowledgeable—they will be grounded, disciplined, relationally capable, and tested through real challenges.
We believe we must train students for the world they are called to lead, not the one we grew up in.
From a practical formation standpoint—shaped in part by what I’m learning through ongoing study and a year-long course in neuropsychology—this means parents should focus on:
- Building strong relational connection and joy in the home
- Teaching kids how to return to peace under stress
- Giving real responsibility
- Reinforcing identity: who they are and how they live
At Iron Academy, we call this being “radically intentional” about formation.
That includes being radically intentional about technology. We are not preparing students to be dependent on AI, but to lead in a world where it exists—using it wisely without being shaped by it, and never at the expense of their development as whole, grounded human beings.
The goal isn’t just success—it’s raising young people who can stand, think clearly, and lead faithfully in a rapidly changing world.
Ultimately, we’re preparing them to be part of that smaller group—those who are grounded, clear-thinking, and anchored in what is real—rather than swept along by a culture chasing stimulation and artificial identity.
Summation: The real question isn’t whether AI will change the world—it already is. The question is whether we’re raising children who can stand firm, think clearly, and live with purpose in that world AND the world that is coming.
Alan Hahn, Ed.D., is the Founder and CEO of Iron Academy, a private Christian school in Raleigh, North Carolina, dedicated to forming young men of wisdom, courage, and Christ-centered character in a rapidly changing world. He is the author of The Iron Academy: Forging Young Men Who Fight for the King, which unpacks the school’s biblically grounded blueprint for training young men to live wisely, lead courageously, and stand firm in their faith. Drawing on close collaboration with leading AI thinkers—including experts influencing federal AI policy and innovators building next-generation, Socratic-style AI tools for education—Alan helps parents, educators, and church leaders understand what AI will and will not replace, and why human formation matters more than ever. He offers a clear, hopeful framework for preparing young people not merely to survive an AI-shaped culture, but to lead faithfully within it through stable identity, disciplined thinking, and moral clarity.
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