Don’t Give a Task to a Human That AI’s Better At – with Jim Cook

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Episode Summary

In this episode of Cloud Reset, we're joined by Jim Cook, Manager of Digital Innovation at the University of Sydney, to unpack the uni's groundbreaking journey in building and scaling Cogniti—their in-house AI teaching platform now used by over 70,000 students and expanding across 22 institutions.

Jim shares how Cogniti was born out of the need to create safe, responsible, and equitable AI experiences in education—addressing challenges like authentic assessment in the age of generative AI, and ensuring students from all backgrounds have access to transformative tools.

He dives into:

• The origins of Cogniti and how it was designed with educators and students, for students

• The shift from policing AI use to embracing it as a teaching and learning tool

• How Cogniti enables AI-guided roleplay and Socratic tutoring, and even allows students to build their own agents

• The impact on educators’ productivity and how AI helps lighten the teaching load

• Insights into the deep partnership with Microsoft, the commercialisation journey via Azure Marketplace, and managing infrastructure at scale

Jim also offers advice to any organisation wanting to get started with AI: “Just do one thing. Start small, play with it—and the use cases will come.”

If you’re interested in the future of education, practical AI implementation, or how to scale innovation within a large institution—this episode is a must-listen.

🎧 Tune in now to hear how Sydney Uni is reshaping the future of learning with AI.