A.I. isn’t the thing. It may be the thing that gets us to the thing.

A month ago I came across a post from Janelle Zonts that resonated with me for many reasons:

AI isn’t the thing.

It’s the thing that gets us to the thing.

This is something Caleb, our CEO at SchoolAI says constantly. It’s so easy to get caught up in the excitement of AI—trust me, I do it. I use AI every single day. But understanding that AI isn’t the thing, it’s how we can leverage it, is crucial.

This idea resonates deeply with me. How can we take something so exciting, and for many, even scary, and change the way we view education?

So, what is the “thing”?

Ultimately, we want kids to learn by acquiring foundational knowledge and developing key skills that will help them in the present and the future as they grow older. The knowledge and skills they develop in K-12, Vocational, and Higher Ed situations should lead to transfer in both work and life.

There seems to be a lot of arguing in the K-12 space about the best ways to build this foundational knowledge and skill set.

Some may be upset by the back-and-forth, but it shows me that folks care. They want what is best for kids, and believe strongly in their practices, strategies, and methods.

I’ve worked as a middle school teacher, high school teacher, K-5 instructional coach, K-12 technology staff developer, administrator, Director of Tech and Innovation, Director of Learning, and most recently with many adult learners at the Graduate school level and in Professional learning settings.

Each of those positions has put me into situations where I’ve been surprised when a strategy, practice, or method I’ve found success with, does not work with a particular group of learners (at least not the way I expected it to work!).

In fact, if there is one thing I’ve realized in the last two decades in education: Every learner is different, and there is no one-size-fits-all approach that will work for learning.

This does not mean that certain practices haven’t stood the test of time, or that some specific practices have been shown to have a overwhelming positive impact on most learners. Learning has always needed to be Human, Social, Meaning-Centered, and Language-Based (thanks PLN).

However, the “thing” (i.e. knowledge and skills that transfer) is continually changing. How we adapt, and Artificial Intelligence’s role in that process, should be something we are all discussing in education right now.

What Happens When The “Thing” Changes?

According to the most recent Future of Jobs Report from the WEC, a lot is changing in terms of the skills needed in the workforce, and what employers are looking for when hiring.

A few years ago I wrote a post about the Top 10 skills of 2025 and said this:

Whether you are leading adult learning (professional learning and development) or student learning (or both), these skills have to be on the forefront of our minds when planning and facilitating. And because so many of us are now leading learning in many different environments, these skills have already been at play in the past few years. They impact both the facilitators and the learners, because both sets of folks need them to be successful.

Those skills have been updated, and some important skills are on the rise in terms of increasing importance.

Most notably, the introduction of “AI and big data” and “Technological literacy” to the list jumped out to me as an educator.

Employers are focused on not only hiring folks that have analytical and creative thinking skills, but also are going to be spending money to help “resell and upskill” their current employees in these areas like A.I., Tech Literacy, Design/User Experience and Self-Awareness.

This trend continues when we look at the report of new jobs and lost jobs happening in 2023-2027.

The #1 fastest growing job sector in the world is already AI and Machine Learning specialists.

That means the kids in your school will most likely work in a job that uses AI in some capacity when they are in the workforce, and if you are not currently using AI in your job/role, it’s going to be a part of your life as well very soon.

A Delicate Balance: Leveraging AI vs Relying on AI

Here’s the problem that many of us in education are facing right now: The balance between leveraging AI for learning, vs students relying on AI for their assignments.

We realize (by now at least) that AI is not going anywhere. It is going to be another hinge of history much like the computer or internet. It is already impacting how we teach and learn.

Yet, we still need kids to build those foundational skills and knowledge. It would be impossible to have kids work on analytical thinking and creative pursuits if AI is doing all the work for them!

On the other hand, AI is not only a tool to leverage for learning and creating — using it with a purpose, is a skillset that our kids (and adults) will need right now and in the future.

This brings me back to that post by Janelle, on leveraging AI with a purpose. Here's the story she shared of finally “getting it”:

If you’re still here, let me share a quick story. I have twins: my son finds school fairly easy, but my daughter struggles. She has an IEP, and I drive her 30 minutes each way to a school that better suits her needs, because she doesn’t thrive with the standard way of learning.

Enter SchoolAI. She came home frustrated because she did below average on her science test. She loves Billie Eilish—I mean, really loves her. So, I created a space where Billie taught her about science. At first, she was hesitant and didn’t want to do more schoolwork. But once she opened up and started exploring the space, she began to dive deeper and... LEARN!

This experience is one of the many things that sold me on SchoolAI. She was able to learn 7th-grade science in a way that made sense to her, connected with her, and that she enjoyed. She has never had this type of learning experience before. Because of a SchoolAI space, she was able to make connections with the assignment that were practically impossible before (unless someone has connections with Billie??).

So when people tell me students lose connection and critical thinking if they use AI, I have to tell them: AI isn’t the thing; it’s the thing helping to meet every student where they are with individualized learning.

That's just one of the many possibilities of leveraging AI. Of course, the opposite could be said of a student just using the AI to answer questions and do their science homework for them, but to stay away from this technology for that reason alone seems like we are missing the point.

AI is now a part of our work and learning experience in the same way that we use devices and the internet every day.

It is both a tool, and a skillset.

How we leverage it as as learning and creative tool will not only impact our learning environments, curriculum, and assessments—it will also prepare students to transfer their AI and Tech literacy skills to both work and life.