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📮 Homework · Barclays cutting 5,000 jobs as it increases reliance on AI

One card per section. Copy the prompt into any AI chatbot at home. Every task has an offline fallback so no AI account is needed.
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§1

Reading between the lines: 'AI is the icing on the cake not the cake'

Y9Y10Y11Open section ↗
🏠 Take-home task

One more implicit assumption

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Please read the BBC News article at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm4g1p347qgxo and list three implicit assumptions the article makes without stating them outright — not from the 'icing on the cake' paragraph, from elsewhere in the piece. Do not give the reasons.
Read the full BBC article at home (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm4g1p347qgxo). Find one more implicit assumption the article makes elsewhere in the piece — outside the 'icing on the cake' paragraph. Write one sentence naming the assumption and one sentence saying how the article sets it up.
AI useOptional. If you use an AI you can ask it to list common implicit assumptions in business reporting about job cuts. Any of Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini is fine.
If no AI or internetYou can complete this with the printed article and a pen.
Bring backTwo sentences, handwritten or typed.
Stay safeNever share your name, school or address with the AI.
§2

Ethical dilemma: the bank manager's choice

Y9Y10Y11Open section ↗
🏠 Take-home task

Interview an adult

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Please list the four most common ways companies in the UK handle the decision when a new technology genuinely replaces the work three admin staff were doing. Do not rank them.
Ask one adult at home or in your family one question: 'If your workplace rolled out an AI tool that genuinely did your job, what would you want your manager to do?' Write two sentences: one naming their answer, and one naming which of the two positions in today's lesson it was closest to.
AI useOptional. You can also ask an AI how retrain-vs-dismiss decisions are typically handled in different industries. Any of Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini is fine.
If no AI or internetYou can speak to any adult in person or on the phone — no AI needed.
Bring backTwo sentences, handwritten or typed.
Stay safeNever share your name, school or address with the AI.
§3

Debate: should companies have to retrain, not dismiss, workers whose roles AI replaces?

Y10Y11Open section ↗
🏠 Take-home task

One other industry

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Please list three real UK industries from the last twenty years where a technology change (not AI) led to large-scale job cuts. For each one, name what the company did for the displaced workers. Do not add commentary.
Find one real UK example of a different industry where a technology change (not AI) has led to large job cuts in the last twenty years — the Post Office automation, the newspaper industry's move to digital, high-street retail. Write two sentences: one summarising what the company did for the displaced workers, and one saying whether a twelve-month retraining duty would have changed their decision.
AI useOptional. If you use an AI you can ask it for real UK examples of large job cuts driven by a technology change. Any of Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini is fine.
If no AI or internetYou can use a physical reference book, ask a family member, or search a school library.
Bring backTwo sentences, handwritten or typed.
Stay safeNever share your name, school or address with the AI.