Big Tech's School Playbook: AI Is the New Coding Class
It sounds familiar: the hot new tech, the jobs of the future, the generous free curriculum. That's how AI companies are pitching schools right now, and it's almost word-for-word how coding was sold to classrooms over the past 15 years. In her new book Coding Kids, New York Times education technology reporter Natasha Singer traces how Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Code.org embedded themselves in schools — and what that means for AI's rollout. The difference? This time, pushback is arriving early.
A Playbook That's Been Running for 15 Years
Singer's book recounts how the largest tech companies embedded themselves directly into school curricula more than a decade ago through Advanced Placement Computer Science Principles courses. Apple and Microsoft each built their own curricula around their own tools, such as Apple's Swift or Microsoft's Minecraft. Singer points out the double standard: parents would likely balk at Pfizer AP Biology or ExxonMobil Environmental Science AP. One expert told her that medical students trained on a company's proprietary device rarely choose to try another. Google, meanwhile, became a dominant education force through low-cost Chromebooks and its Classroom app, a position that made it well-placed to promote generative AI once it took off.
The Coding Promise That Didn't Quite Land
Code.org kicked off its viral campaign with a celebrity-laden video featuring Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg urging kids to learn to code. Founder Hadi Partovi took a startup-style approach, funneling attention into the nationwide Hour of Code, with little planned for capitalizing on the video's success, Singer writes. At the time, there was little pushback. But some recent graduates now say they feel let down — told to code their whole lives, only to find entry-level jobs diminishing. Some schools are dropping ubiquitous Chromebooks, and research worldwide is finding that adding technology to classrooms often doesn't significantly improve learning.
Why AI's School Rollout Is Different
Unlike the early coding push, parents and districts are already resisting. New York City, the nation's largest school system, banned elementary and middle school students from using AI in the classroom for the coming school year. A day later, Los Angeles announced an even broader restriction covering high schoolers. Singer says she's optimistic that teachers and students want a broader tech education — one that teaches kids to ask deep questions about how companies steer us with technology, how software and AI are designed to affect choices, and how to push back. "I worry we have collective amnesia," she told The Vergecast. Her question: have we learned any lessons this time?
Key Takeaways
- AI companies are pitching schools with the same narrative coding advocates used 15 years ago.
- Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Code.org embedded themselves in curricula through their own tools and platforms.
- Some graduates now feel let down as entry-level coding jobs diminish.
- New York City and Los Angeles have already restricted AI use in classrooms.
- Singer argues schools should teach students to question how tech shapes their choices.
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