Artificial Intelligence: To what degree can AI cost-effectively advance student or teacher outcomes?
While AI has the potential to improve student outcomes, the rapid proliferation of AI tools in education has outpaced the evidence base. The most recent EdTech Insiders Generative AI Map, funded by Overdeck Family Foundation, identifies more than 300 AI tools and use cases for the edtech community—signaling sizable growth from even a few months earlier. Encouragingly, EdTech Insiders has launched a partnership with Stanford SCALE to apply a shared taxonomy that documents emerging evidence, which now features more than 1,000 studies. To date, evidence most consistently supports administrative and planning use cases for AI in education, with far less conclusive findings for elementary and middle school student-facing outcomes. These findings suggest the need for funders to build the evidence base and support disciplined experimentation, which we’re excited to do in 2026.
