What does AI really cost your school?

the 4-part bargain every educator needs to understand

AI in the classroom isn’t just a tool - it’s a trade-off. Last week I suggested that the excitement over “2-Hour Learning” fits with our love of shortcuts and simple answers to complex problems. Instead of reading the book, we want the executive summary; instead of learning the breadth of our field, we want the SOPs; instead of deep learning, we want the quick fix. But what if we didn’t have to choose between being AI’s biggest cheerleader or its harshest critic? In this post we’ll look at another way - treating AI adoption as a bargain, with real benefits, real compromises, and real sacrifices. But first…

Rick’s AI Express

Of note in the past week:

• over 200 World leaders, Nobel laureates, and AI experts have signed “The Global Call for AI Red Lines”, which urges worldwide agreement on things that AI should never be allowed to do - including AI impersonating humans and AI use in nuclear warfare.

• although many people are worried that AI will take their jobs away, a recent study by OpenAI shows that over 70% of questions were non-work related. Younger people are using AI much like older people use Google. Additionally, the gender balance among AI uses is pretty much 50-50, a significant change from the early days (2022) where the split was 80-20 (M-F).

• Google recently integrated AI into its web browser, with Gemini able to analyze content in different Chrome tabs. Perplexity was the first, building its Comet browser specifically for AI and autonomous agents.

• Huawei is in direct competition with Nvidia for AI computer chip dominance, in the latest tit-for-tat trade war between the US and China. As I’ve mentioned several times, the US is the leader in zero-to-one innovation, while China is the leader in one-to-one-hundred scaling. Hopefully there is an off-ramp for the increasing hostility between the world’s largest economies and military powers!

• and lastly, OpenAI is rolling out safety measures for teen ChatGPT users. This comes on the heels of a (US) Senate hearing on the harm of chatbots, as well as a much-reported teen suicide spurred on by AI chats. Expect other AI companies to introduce similar controls within weeks.

In The Life We’re Looking For, Andy Crouch argues that modern life is obsessed with effortless power - more strength, speed, and output, with less effort. These “superpowers” increase our capacity, but also diminish it. Power without effort always comes with a trade-off or bargain. At first it feels magical; yet soon enough, there’s a cost - a loss of agency, a new obligation, or a creeping sense of anxiety and loneliness - hallmarks of the digital age.

That’s where Crouch’s idea of the Innovation Bargain comes in. It’s not just about what we gain and lose with new technology, but also the relief it brings and the new demands it adds. This post explores how that four-part bargain shows up in schools as we adopt AI. In a later post, we’ll zoom in on timing: which effects are visible immediately, and which sneak up over time. Together, the two posts give a fuller picture of what AI really costs and what it genuinely gives in teaching and learning. My hope is that Crouch’s perspective offers you a different lens for thinking about AI.

Here’s a way to picture the bargain: a simple 2x2 grid, like the ones we use for prioritization or SWOT. Crouch describes four outcomes of innovation, and while some show up right away, others only emerge with time. The important thing is that each quadrant represents a shift in what we can do and what we’re responsible for - a balance between autonomy (the options in front of us) and agency (our ability to own the choice).

Think of it this way: change often comes with a shiny promise in the top-right corner of the grid - the part that gets the headlines and the VC funding. But each of the other corners holds a quieter story; one of trade-offs that are just as real. While change may be good (a 5-hour flight across the country to see family), it also takes something away (the roads, landscapes, meals, music, and conversations along the way).

Here’s how the bargain plays out in schools:

• Top right: Empowerment - “Now you can…”
  AI promises new capacity: teachers can generate lesson hooks in seconds, students can draft essays or solve problems faster. It feels like a superpower.

• Top left: Relief - “You’ll no longer have to…”
  AI takes away drudgery: no more slogging through spelling corrections, formatting citations, or designing yet another rubric. Teachers get their evenings back.

• Bottom left: Erosion - “You’ll no longer be able to…”
  But something quietly erodes: students may lose the stamina to wrestle with a text, and teachers may stop recognizing the impact of individual student voices. The very work that shaped our skills gets outsourced.

• Bottom right: Obligation - “Now you’ll have to…”
  Every shortcut comes with new work: teaching students prompt literacy, double-checking AI’s “hallucinations,” detecting plagiarism, and navigating new policies. The work didn’t vanish; it shape-shifted into a new task.

Let’s look at several examples that schools are dealing with RIGHT NOW. For those who are not in education, there is one for you as well!

1. Grading and Assessment of Student Work.

It’s Friday night, and a teacher has two choices: a stack of 30 essays or her child’s soccer game. Thanks to AI, she chooses the bleachers. By Monday morning, the essays are graded, complete with “personalized” comments like “Great use of transitions!” or “I wonder if …” The relief is real. But in class discussion, something feels missing - she no longer hears her students’ joys and struggles in their writing. Instead of knowing why Kelly’s work lacks organization or how Jacob’s metaphors add life, she’s left with AI’s tidy summaries. The trade-off: more time for family, less time truly knowing her students.

2. Student Homework and Writing

On the other hand, the presence of AI tools gives students superpowers to draft essays or quickly finish their homework. This new capability seems liberating, removing much of the struggle from getting words on the page or making last-minute deadlines.

Take Emma: she stares at the blank page until 10:45 p.m. Then she remembers ChatGPT. By 10:47, she has a tidy five-paragraph essay - neat, correct, and completely voiceless. The relief is real, but the grit it takes to wrestle through a messy draft is quietly lost. Emma used to like organizing ideas, building arguments, and developing a personal voice, but these skills fade into the background when AI seems like magic. And when one teacher bans AI, another says ‘use it wisely,’ and a third shrugs, students are left guessing what’s allowed. Instead of growing in confidence, they grow in confusion.

3. Curriculum and Lesson Planning

Mr. Patel stares at his laptop late Sunday night. In minutes, AI has spun up a week’s worth of lesson plans, complete with rubrics and extension activities. It feels like Pinterest on steroids - a rich menu of options at his fingertips. And without the cost of Teachers Pay Teachers!

But after a few weeks, he notices something: his classes feel two dimensional. The fun, open-ended, locally-based projects he used to invent are giving way to slick but unoriginal activities. The relief of easy planning is real, but so is the erosion of creativity.

And now there’s extra work, too. Mr. Patel finds himself sifting through AI’s suggestions, trying to spot what’s deep and meaningful versus what’s formulaic. The bargain is clear: convenience traded for the ongoing obligation to stay discerning.

4. Student Research

Josh has a history paper due tomorrow. Instead of slogging through six browser tabs of conflicting articles, he types a single prompt into the embedded AI tool. Seconds later, he has a clean summary of the French Revolution - no contradictions, no rabbit holes, no headaches - but also nothing learned.

The convenience is intoxicating, but something vital is lost: the messy work of wrestling with sources, holding competing ideas in tension, and learning to spot gaps. With instant answers on tap, patience and inquiry begin to wither. And because Josh doesn’t fully understand the topic, he accepts what AI suggests without question.

For teachers, the obligation shifts. It’s no longer about helping students find information, but about teaching them to interrogate it: Do I know enough to frame a good question? Can I tell when the output doesn’t add up? How can I push this to the next level?

5. Productivity and Decision-Making

Sheri opens her laptop Monday morning to a tidy inbox and calendar: AI has drafted replies, scheduled her week, and pulled highlights from last Friday’s meeting. It even blocked two hours of “focus time” each morning when she’s most in the zone. The relief is real - no clutter, no missed appointments, no scrambling.

But as AI takes over the mental load, something subtle slips away. Sheri no longer remembers colleagues’ offhand comments, the rhythm of her own notes, or the satisfaction of sorting things out herself. Convenience has a cost: skills like memory, reflection, and authentic interaction begin to erode.

The new obligation isn’t to reject these tools, but to grow sharper in how we use them - developing skepticism, digital literacy, and discernment. We can let AI handle the routine, but we can’t outsource our judgment.

These examples highlight what I’ve heard from teachers over the past two years - the unintended (or obvious) consequences of AI adoption in the classroom. AI is a useful and powerful tool, but the danger is that “we become what we behold. We shape our tools and then our tools shape us” (attributed to Marshall McLuhan). Just as social media reshaped how students think and interact (mostly negatively), or email transformed teacher workloads and expectations (always on call), AI risks subtly altering the fundamental nature of learning itself - diminishing critical thinking, creativity, and the struggle that builds intellectual resilience. The question isn't whether AI will change education - IT WILL - but whether we're intentional enough about how we integrate it to avoid the pattern where short-term gains mask long-term costs or trade-offs. And that is the topic for part 2!

Recommended Reads - highlights from my weekly reading

• James Marriott writes a superb essay on the dangers of reading, and of NOT reading in “The Dawn of the Post-Literate Society”.

• Josh Brake’s post “Keep Thinking” provided inspiration for this week’s post on the Innovation Bargain. If the only thing you watch is “Keep Thinking with Claude”, you’ll be enriched.

• Ned Courtemanche invites teachers to have students use AI to create mental images for improved comprehension.

That’s all for this week,

Cheers,

-Rick