But instead of adopting and starting to empower students with the technology, I watched huge districts like New York City Schools, and many, many others ban it.
I watched social media melt down about what it would mean for the five paragraph essay, or the book report, or pretty much any other assessment.
But I've also seen magic. My 11 year old daughter's face lighting up learning math from Yoda. A high schooler getting in-depth, live, personal feedback about their college essay. A first-year teacher letting a load off from lesson planning for a new teacher. A 20-year veteran generating new ideas to shift his classroom to inquiry-based project-based learning. A father of a student with down syndrome tearing up after receiving a proactive note home.
I'm here for every opportunity. I'm an education futurist, and an AI optimist. If we embrace this new technology, and integrate it into our lives and other tools we're already using it, we can unleash a new wave of learning, personalization, automation, and get more out of our schools than we'd ever dreamed.
The world is changing dramatically. This technology is just getting started, and in 5 years, 10 years, 20+ years everything we think about how education works will have adapted. Schools were at the forefront of adopting the personal computer and early searchable web. Since then they've lagged 5-10 years behind the rest of the world in getting access to new technology. We're helping them claw back to the bleeding edge. Education will be the first major use-case for AI, and we're here to help make it happen.
I started SchoolAI because there's nowhere I'd rather be, and nothing I'd rather work on, than helping students, teachers, and school leaders navigate the tide shift and get the most out of AI as a tool, as a learning outcome for students, and as an opportunity to rethink and rebuild how education works in our most important social institution.
We're going to need to work with the very best and brightest educators, technologists, and leaders to shape that future and empower every student, teacher, and school leader with the best AI-powered tech has to offer.
I invite you to come and join us. Onward and upward.