A Classroom Experiment

Chatbots have wormed their way into everything: phones, cars, TVs, offices. They’re also in kids’ classrooms.

Microsoft and OpenAI announced yesterday that they would spend millions on a new program that will train teachers to use artificial intelligence. It’s part of a bigger push by tech companies to get their chatbots into schools. They’re selling A.I. subscriptions to administrators and promising them that the bots will help teachers grade assignments, prepare lessons and draft recommendation letters. The companies say A.I. proficiency will prepare kids for the work force.

They also approach students directly with discounted subscription rates around exam periods. It’s an old playbook: Get kids hooked, and you’ve got future customers.

But do chatbots actually help them learn? So far, there’s little evidence. Today, I explain how students have become guinea pigs in a national classroom-learning experiment.

What’s happening?

After years of hesitancy and hand-wringing about A.I., schools are starting to experiment with chatbots — some with enhanced privacy guardrails, some without. In a nationally representative survey, nearly half of districts reported having provided A.I. training for their teachers as of last fall. That’s twice the number from the previous year.