School leaders thinking about the integration of generative AI products in their schools, should be considering future costs.
While AI companies might generously offer their products at a free or highly reduced costs, that is not sustainable.
Silicon Valley and Ed Tech companies have a history of offering free or cheap up front, then, after the schools invest time in the product, springing a substantial cost increase on them.
Like a drug dealer, offering potential users samples to get them addicted, AI companies and Ed Tech seek to get educators so committed to their products that they will be willing to even cut other effective programs and expenses to maintain the habit.
With no idea on how much the future costs of the use of generative AI products is going to be, it would be prudent to be cautious and slow-walk implementation. That means keeping it experimental in limited settings for a year or two.
This would also provide the months and year or two of experimentation and testing to see if it really is effective in improving education.
I know that flies in the face of the AI-hype warriors, but there is no need hurry from the educator perspective even though the AI companies are up to their eyeballs in debt and need the users to continue getting their investment handouts.
Visionary educators do not act hastily because of the sales pitches and rhetoric; they act with prudence and deliberate caution.
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