Opinion: How should teachers adapt to AI?

Date: Thursday, April 16, 2026

Washington Policy Center's Donald Kimball explores balancing AI benefits with preserving critical thinking in classrooms. — Washington Policy Center’s Donald Kimball explores balancing AI benefits with preserving critical thinking in classrooms.

Donald Kimball says it will require navigating the fine line between outsourcing our critical thinking skills to computers and becoming 21st century Luddites

Donald Kimball
Washington Policy Center

Our breakthrough advancements in Large Language Models (LLMs) and toward Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) have created a paradox for the education system. While we have created powerful tools that could be the greatest assets to learning for students and workflow for teachers, we simultaneously risk creating an environment for students to outsource their thinking to machines instead.

Donald Kimball

While it can be tempting to wish to retreat from the unknown, it's not a realistic policy option. These technologies are a part of our world, and students wil grow up with them. It should be the goal of the education system to best prepare students to use these technologies in productive ways and harness their capabilities.

I spoke with teachers across Washington state (and beyond!) to get insight into their experiences with technology in their classrooms and how we can best balance the newfound proficiency of our tech advancements without succumbing to distraction or dereliction of learning. You can read my thoughts on that in my latest opinion piece published at the Washington State Standard.

While specific policies can be argued and tweaked, the best way to find successful results is by allowing education choice in order that students can find what works for them. If one school district isn't addressing the problem correctly, a family ought to have the ability to freely move to a different method. Not every student has the same needs, and guardrails on AI and ed tech that work for some won't for others. Parents should be allowed to make that decision based on their own students' needs without being beholden to a government bureaucracy.

Donald Kimball is the communications manager and tech exchange editor at the Washington Policy Center.