Sep 16, 2026 · 29 min · 12 segments
Mike Petrilli is back on the mic solo this week to weigh the case for and against banning AI in schools. He considers growing concerns about cheating, an erosion of grading standards, and the broader…
Mike PetrilliHost
Brian FitzpatrickDavid GriffithHost
It was only back in April that my good friend Rick Hess interviewed another good friend, Michael Horn, for his Ed Week blog.
Can we resolve the tension? And And it was a good question, right? Because that was happening not so long ago.
At least that is what New York City has done for grades K through 8 and Los Angeles for grades K to 12.
You know, I understand from some folks like Aaron Mote that New York's ban is a little more nuanced.
Los Angeles, it's more really shutting it down pretty much absolutely, though, again, with some carve outs in some cases, maybe tools for kids with disabilities, for example.
But Michael argued back then, he said, we should be very wary about promoting blanket bans.
Not only is it out of tune with the reality that some parents are intentionally opting for schools that leverage AI, but it will also limit the use cases where ed tech makes sense in traditional schooling models.
He points, for example, to Course Mojo, now led by Daisha Toll, who was the founder of Achievement First out of But now I'm going to forget New Haven, Connecticut, I believe.
So, you know, these are people that care a lot about learning, student achievement, high expectations.
And Michael writes that Course Mojo is a curriculum aligned teaching assistant for English language arts.
And that Daisha is doing this work with a clear instructional design, guardrails, clarity around the importance of knowledge and human teachers setting the rules around good instruction.
We'd be foolish to dismiss the opportunities that someone like Daisha sees in these tools.
It was only back in April that my good friend Rick Hess interviewed another good friend, Michael Horn, for his Ed Week blog.
Can we resolve the tension? And And it was a good question, right? Because that was happening not so long ago.
At least that is what New York City has done for grades K through 8 and Los Angeles for grades K to 12.
You know, I understand from some folks like Aaron Mote that New York's ban is a little more nuanced.
Los Angeles, it's more really shutting it down pretty much absolutely, though, again, with some carve outs in some cases, maybe tools for kids with disabilities, for example.
But Michael argued back then, he said, we should be very wary about promoting blanket bans.
Not only is it out of tune with the reality that some parents are intentionally opting for schools that leverage AI, but it will also limit the use cases where ed tech makes sense in traditional schooling models.
He points, for example, to Course Mojo, now led by Daisha Toll, who was the founder of Achievement First out of But now I'm going to forget New Haven, Connecticut, I believe.
So, you know, these are people that care a lot about learning, student achievement, high expectations.
And Michael writes that Course Mojo is a curriculum aligned teaching assistant for English language arts.
And that Daisha is doing this work with a clear instructional design, guardrails, clarity around the importance of knowledge and human teachers setting the rules around good instruction.
We'd be foolish to dismiss the opportunities that someone like Daisha sees in these tools.
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