Kindling a Fire: What Are You Doing About AI?

“What are you doing about AI?” If this isn’t the question I get asked the most, it has to be close. And with good reason – artificial intelligence is one of the singular challenges to modern education. I am convinced that it will permanently alter both schools and society. And yet, it is far from clear how anyone – least of all schools – should respond.

In some ways, this moment feels a bit like 1998 did with the internet. When I was a senior at Country Day, we were already using computers every day and proudly running the nation’s first one-to-one laptop program. We knew that connectivity and digital tools would change the world. What we did not yet know was how: The iPhone had not been invented, social media didn’t exist, and many of the most powerful – and problematic – uses of the internet were still unimaginable.

AI sits in a similar place today. We know it will be a major influence in our students’ lives. But we are only beginning to understand how. And while we don’t want to ignore its undeniable influence on our students’ future, nor do we want to rush headlong into AI adoption at the expense of real learning. As we learned from smartphones, being an early adopter is not always a good thing.

Indeed, one of the challenges of AI is that, while it is a boon for many industries because it offers efficiency, speed, and ease, those are not always the virtues that lead to deep learning. Real education depends on effortful thinking, productive struggle, and the sometimes uncomfortable work of metacognition. In business, friction is a bad thing; in education, friction is essential to real learning.

Consequently, one of our key priorities this year has been to seek to harmonize AI’s immense potential with the realities of brain science and childhood development. To that end, we have been taking a thoughtful, deliberately paced approach:

• First, we have relied on an AI committee of teachers and administrators from across divisions and disciplines. Their charge has been to help develop our strategy: to identify promising classroom uses, clarify where AI does and does not belong in student work, and ensure our decisions are grounded in both cognitive science and our mission.
• Second, we have elevated student voice through a cohort of AI ambassadors in the Upper School. They are helping us understand how AI is actually being used by teenagers, advising on guidelines, and helping to teach their peers about ethical and effective use.
• Third, have developed clear AI policies to ensure ethical use of these tools in learning. There can be no ambiguity that using AI to do one’s work dishonestly is a form of cheating. But we are equally clear that AI is not just a cheating tool. It can be a powerful assistant for brainstorming, feedback, revision, and exploration – provided it is used transparently and with integrity. Our goal is to move beyond simple bans or blind enthusiasm and instead teach discernment: when to use AI, how to use it, and when to set it aside and think on one’s own.
• Finally, we have rolled out our own AI tutoring agent through Microsoft Copilot. Importantly, this tool is grounded in learning science, and serves as a tutor and study guide, not a quick source of answers. While no chatbot can replicate a master teacher, research shows that an AI tutor can provide retrieval practice, sample problems, and immediate feedback that extend the reach of our faculty. In this pilot phase, we are proceeding carefully, ensuring it serves as a complement to, not a substitute for, student relationships with teachers.

Underlying all of this work is a broader vision of what our students will need in an AI-powered world. As I shared last year, we are especially focused on four competencies:

• Technical proficiency: Fluency in frontier models and a desire to stay current as technology continues to rapidly evolve are table stakes in today’s world. 
• Durable future skills: While background knowledge remains essential to learning, access to information is increasingly less important than the cultivation of judgment, creativity, collaboration, character, and leadership. 
• Adaptability: Agility is as important as ability. Intrinsic motivation to learn new skills and a willingness to adapt to new realities are essential traits to continually keep pace with modern life. 
• Meaning and purpose: More than ever, our students must be able to make meaning, find purpose, and demonstrate wisdom – all anchored in timeless values and virtues. 

As bullish as I am on the potential of AI, I am still cautious about making sweeping predictions or grand bets. It is simply too early to know which tools will endure, which will fade, and which will actually help learning. But it is not too early to cultivate the right mindset.

At Country Day, that mindset is one of keen curiosity but a willingness to learn – coupled with a strong grounding in timeless learning principles. With that approach, we believe our students will be as ready for the future as Country Day students like me were, without realizing it, for the world that followed 1998.

"Kindling a Fire" is a column submitted regularly to Indian Hill Living by Head of School Rob Zimmerman '98. This ran in the March 2026 edition of the publication.