AI as a Thinking Partner

«Digital sovereignty begins when people can consciously decide when technology serves them—and when it does not.»

«AI is my thinking partner—and the Waldorf school gave me the foundation to think with AI», says Melanie Mierau. This is the experience of an IT manager who has learned that thinking doesn’t just happen in the mind, but also through the hands, through trial and error, through conversation—and sometimes even with a tool that helps organize one’s thoughts.

Mierau was born in Hamburg. Her parents were among the co-founders of the Altona Waldorf School, where she first attended school herself. Later, the family moved to Heidelberg, where she also attended the Waldorf School. Today, she has come full circle: her own children are once again attending the Altona Waldorf School.

After high school, Mierau completed an apprenticeship as a cabinetmaker. She enjoyed the craft, the materials, and the hands-on experience. But she also realized that she had imagined her life differently—a life in which, in her early twenties, she would fall into bed exhausted every night. So she switched to an animation company. There, she didn’t draw; instead, she set up websites and programs. Little by little, the carpenter became a technician. She studied computer science, later went into management consulting, and now works in the IT department of an insurance company.

She doesn’t describe ending up there as a coincidence, but rather as a search for creative opportunities. At first, she didn’t care about the industry. What was more important was finding a place where she could think, organize her thoughts, translate ideas, and develop solutions. Today, she is responsible for IT systems that store insurance policies. She navigates between the executive board, sales, management, and developers—in other words, between groups that often speak very different languages.

From wood to structure

During her apprenticeship, Mierau learned how important concentration is and that you should know your tools well. She says that even at the Waldorf school, she was allowed to make mistakes—whether while sewing, when she mixed up left and right, or when the fabric was cut incorrectly. «Depending on how those around us react, mistakes can also serve to ‹sharpen our perception›. You’ll look more closely next time if the material is valuable», says Mierau. Material things, she says in essence, lead to reality.

This attitude also shapes her view of AI. She sees the danger of outsourcing one’s own thinking to AI. In working with AI, she realized how tempting it can be to let herself be carried away by its speed instead of first forming her own thoughts. At the same time, she experienced moments in which AI made her feel not smaller, but greater: «I'm really good at it now because I know how to guide the AI.»

So for her, the key issue isn't whether AI is used. The key issue is how. She has configured her AI to indicate how confident it is in a statement. That sounds technical, but at its core, it's an educational approach: don't trust blindly, but rather verify, contextualize, and ask questions.

Socratic machines

Her approach becomes particularly clear when Mierau talks about her 15-year-old daughter. For a chemistry block test, she didn’t simply have the AI provide answers. Instead, she instructed the AI to question her daughter in a Socratic manner: that is, not to give away the solution, but to wait until her daughter had answered, and then ask follow-up questions. The AI didn’t become a cheat sheet, but rather a learning companion. It’s easy to see how AI could be misused: input a question, get an answer. But here, the tool is used in a way that encourages independent thinking. The daughter remains engaged in the thought process. The AI keeps the conversation going. It provides structure but doesn’t do the work for her.

Mierau sees similar opportunities for teachers. For example, AI can transform studies and texts into engaging podcasts. Flashcards and quizzes can help students review material. Especially when preparing for the final exams—a process she herself found tedious—AI can break down learning content into manageable chunks, adjust the pace, and offer different approaches. It can also help prepare the books of block lessons or presentations.

Safe spaces and work spaces

Mierau distinguishes between safe spaces and work spaces. In the safe space, the focus is on the individual—AI is deliberately kept out of this space. This is where conversations about children, observations of children, pedagogical assessments, and the handling of personal data take place. Confidentiality, professional responsibility, and direct interpersonal interaction take precedence in this space.
In the workspace, on the other hand, AI can be used responsibly. Here, AI is a tool that streamlines work processes—such as lesson preparation or the organization of daily school life—and frees up more time for people to focus on relationships, observation, and the actual educational work. For Mierau, personal data never belongs in AI systems. At the same time, concerns about data protection should not prevent every educational experiment from taking place.

This distinction is helpful because it defuses the debate. Between a ban and unbridled enthusiasm lies a third way: thoughtfully designed spaces. Children and adolescents need not only rules but also opportunities to gain experience. Teachers need not only warnings but also opportunities to gain confidence themselves. Mierau advocates for Waldorf schools to remain consistent with the cell phone ban through eighth grade—and to clearly communicate this stance publicly and to parents. At the same time, in her private life, she does not practice a culturally pessimistic total abstinence. Her children have screen time. They explore new apps together. They discuss social media algorithms. Dialogue is key.

Future  skills that seem outdated

The longer she talks about AI, the less it’s about AI alone. It’s about what people need when machines can do so much faster: resilience, creativity, social interaction, listening, tolerance for mistakes, mindfulness, and the ability to consciously guide one’s own thinking. Today, these skills are called «future skills». For Mierau, they are not a new invention. She recognizes in them much of what Waldorf schools have always practiced.

Mierau says that schools need to evolve. Waldorf schools, she argues, do not need to become any less Waldorf in the process, but rather need to understand more deeply why their strongest pedagogical principles are indispensable right now. She identifies a foundation in her own Waldorf background: hands-on craftwork, artistic experience, phenomenological learning, social practice, and the opportunity to fail and start over. She describes numbers to which she still assigns colors and genders—a personal form of inner imagery that accompanies her mathematical thinking. It was only as an adult that she recognized a connection between this and phenomenological learning: the world is not merely understood abstractly, but sensually, visually, and richly in terms of relationships.

Thinking with a counterpart

Mierau does not describe thinking as an isolated process: «Thinking arises through resistance and interactions with others: with wood, fabric, classmates, colleagues, children, teachers—and now, of course, with AI as well. But this interaction must be structured. Otherwise, partnership turns into dependence.»

Her central thesis is therefore more complex than it initially sounds. «AI is my thinking partner» does not mean that AI makes judgments on an equal footing. It means that it is incorporated as a tool into the human thought process. And «the Waldorf school gave me the foundation for thinking with AI» does not mean that Waldorf schools automatically make students digitally competent. It means that a school that takes experience, creativity, independence, and relationships seriously can foster skills that will be crucial when working with AI.

«The question isn’t whether AI is making its way into schools and the workplace. It’s been there for a long time. That’s why I’m not so concerned with how schools use AI, but rather with how they can remain places where young people learn to think for themselves. Digital sovereignty begins when people can consciously decide when technology serves them—and when it doesn’t», says Mierau. For her, this ability doesn’t begin at the screen. It begins when a child learns to think with their hands, to tolerate mistakes, to listen, and to trust their own perceptions.