Should schools pay for AI tools for their students?

For years now, it’s been assumed that students need computers and internet access to function well in school. That part is seemingly a no-brainer (unless you’re Ted Cruz, apparently), as lower-income students are at a significant disadvantage if they don’t have reliable broadband.

These days, AI tools are starting to become part of that basic plumbing. In a recent episode of the Hard Fork podcast, they talked to college students about their experiences with AI relative to their education. On the show, a student named Vikram shared this:

“It’s kind of gotten to the point where AI is just so normalized. It’s like the internet, like a calculator. You kind of just have to use it.”

In conversations I’ve been having, that tracks, which kind of brings us back to the top of this post. If we agree that students need internet access for proper education, including helping lower-income students get connected, should access to AI tools be part of that same list?

Again, from the show (this time from the hosts):

“If some of your students have the means to buy the paid versions and some don’t, then the students with access to the paid versions are just going to have better answers and better homework and more queries to give to the models before they run out, and I just think that puts your lower income students at a tactical disadvantage.”