Books

The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness

Jonathan Haidt

2024 · Penguin Press

In 'The Anxious Generation,' social psychologist Jonathan Haidt argues that the rapid adoption of smartphones and social media since the early 2010s has fundamentally disrupted childhood development, contributing to a sharp rise in anxiety, depression, and other mental health challenges among adolescents. Haidt contrasts the relatively healthy 'play-based childhood' of earlier generations with today's 'phone-based childhood,' examining how constant connectivity, social comparison, and algorithmic content feeds have rewired how young people think, relate, and grow. While the book focuses primarily on smartphones and social media rather than AI specifically, it provides essential context for educators and school leaders grappling with the broader consequences of placing powerful technology in children's hands before protective norms and safeguards are in place. For anyone thinking critically about AI integration in K–12 schools, this book serves as a vital cautionary framework about unintended harms, the importance of developmentally appropriate technology use, and the urgent need for evidence-based policies.

Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI

Ethan Mollick

2024 · Portfolio/Penguin

In Co-Intelligence, Wharton professor Ethan Mollick provides a practical and thought-provoking guide to understanding and working alongside AI in everyday professional and creative life. Drawing on his extensive research and classroom experimentation, Mollick explores how to treat AI as a collaborative partner rather than a tool to be feared or blindly trusted, offering concrete strategies for integrating AI effectively and ethically. For educators, the book is particularly valuable in its discussion of how AI reshapes learning, productivity, and creativity, and how humans can maintain agency and critical judgment in an AI-augmented world. It matters for K–12 contexts because it helps teachers think through how to model thoughtful AI use for students and how to redesign learning experiences in an era when AI can perform many traditional academic tasks.

Brave New Words: How AI Will Revolutionize Education (and Why That's a Good Thing)

Sal Khan

2024 · Penguin Press

In Brave New Words, Khan Academy founder Sal Khan argues that artificial intelligence represents the most transformative opportunity in the history of education, with the potential to provide every student a personalized, world-class tutor akin to what only the privileged few have historically enjoyed. Drawing on his experience building Khanmigo, Khan Academy's AI-powered tutoring tool, Khan explores how AI can adapt to individual learning needs, close equity gaps, and unlock human potential at scale. The book is aimed at educators, parents, policymakers, and anyone invested in the future of learning, offering an optimistic but grounded vision of how teachers can be liberated from rote instruction to focus on mentorship, creativity, and human connection. Khan also addresses legitimate concerns around cheating, data privacy, and over-reliance on technology, making the case that thoughtful integration of AI is not something to fear but to embrace.

AI for Educators: Learning Strategies, Teacher Efficiencies, and a Vision for an Artificial Intelligence Future

Matt Miller

2023 · Ditch That Textbook

AI for Educators by Matt Miller offers K–12 teachers practical, accessible strategies for integrating artificial intelligence into their classrooms and daily workflows. Written in the approachable style Miller is known for from Ditch That Textbook, the book explores how educators can use AI tools to save time on administrative tasks, personalize student learning, and enhance instructional design. Miller also looks ahead to envision what an AI-influenced future of education could look like, helping teachers think proactively rather than reactively about the technology. The book is designed for educators at all tech comfort levels who want to harness AI's potential without losing the human heart of teaching.

The AI Classroom: The Ultimate Guide to Artificial Intelligence in Education

Dan Fitzpatrick, Amanda Fox, Brad Weinstein

2023 · TeacherGoals Publishing

The AI Classroom is a practical, educator-focused guide written by three experienced education professionals that demystifies artificial intelligence and its applications in K–12 settings. The book walks teachers through the landscape of AI tools available for classroom use, offering concrete strategies for integrating them into instruction, assessment, and everyday teaching workflows. It also addresses the broader implications of AI for how students learn, create, and develop critical thinking skills in an increasingly automated world. Written in an accessible, practitioner-friendly tone, it serves as a hands-on resource for educators at any level of technical familiarity who want to teach effectively and responsibly in the age of AI.

Teaching with AI: A Practical Guide to a New Era of Human Learning

José Antonio Bowen, C. Edward Watson

2023 · Johns Hopkins University Press

Teaching with AI: A Practical Guide to a New Era of Human Learning by José Antonio Bowen and C. Edward Watson offers educators a grounded, practical framework for integrating AI tools into their teaching practice without sacrificing the distinctly human dimensions of learning. The book helps teachers understand how generative AI works, how to use it effectively for course design, assessment, and feedback, and how to rethink pedagogy in an era when many routine tasks can be automated. Written for educators at all levels, it emphasizes that AI should augment rather than replace the relational, creative, and critical dimensions of teaching. It is essential reading for any educator grappling with how to adapt their practice thoughtfully and ethically as AI becomes increasingly present in schools and classrooms.

Power and Prediction: The Disruptive Economics of Artificial Intelligence

Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans, Avi Goldfarb

2022 · Harvard Business Review Press

Power and Prediction argues that artificial intelligence is fundamentally a prediction technology that dramatically lowers the cost of making predictions, and that this shift disrupts not just markets but institutions of all kinds — including schools. Authors Agrawal, Gans, and Goldfarb, all economists at the University of Toronto, explore how AI redistributes power by changing who makes decisions and how those decisions are structured, with profound implications for administrators, teachers, and policymakers. The book challenges educators and institutional leaders to rethink entrenched workflows and decision-making hierarchies that were built around the scarcity of good predictions. For school leaders and education policymakers, the book offers a rigorous economic framework for understanding why AI adoption is not merely a technical upgrade but a structural transformation that demands deliberate institutional redesign.

The Age of AI: And Our Human Future

Henry Kissinger, Eric Schmidt, Daniel Huttenlocher

2021 · Little, Brown and Company

The Age of AI examines how artificial intelligence is fundamentally transforming human civilization, touching on geopolitics, security, philosophy, and education. Written by a former U.S. Secretary of State, a former Google CEO, and an MIT AI researcher, the book offers a high-level, interdisciplinary perspective on the long-term societal implications of AI — including how it may reshape learning, knowledge, and human cognition. For educators and school leaders, it provides essential context for understanding why decisions made today about AI in schools are not merely technical but deeply philosophical and civic in nature. It is particularly valuable for those thinking about preparing students to navigate a world increasingly shaped by AI systems that reason and decide in ways humans may not fully understand.

Atlas of AI: Power, Politics, and the Planetary Costs of Artificial Intelligence

Kate Crawford

2021 · Yale University Press

Atlas of AI by Kate Crawford offers a sweeping critical investigation into the hidden costs and power structures underlying artificial intelligence, examining the environmental toll of data centers, the exploitative labor conditions in AI supply chains, and the political forces that shape how AI systems are built and deployed. Crawford argues that AI is not a neutral technology but a product of specific economic and political choices with real consequences for people and the planet. For educators, this book provides essential context for evaluating the AI tools being introduced into schools, helping them ask deeper questions about who benefits, who is harmed, and what values are embedded in these systems. It is a vital resource for any educator, administrator, or policymaker who wants to move beyond surface-level enthusiasm for EdTech and engage critically with the broader implications of AI adoption.

Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy

Cathy O'Neil

2016 · Crown Publishers

Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O'Neil examines how large-scale mathematical models and algorithms — despite appearing objective — often encode bias, reinforce inequality, and evade accountability. O'Neil, a mathematician and data scientist, traces how these opaque systems affect hiring, lending, policing, education, and more, disproportionately harming vulnerable populations. For educators, the book is essential for understanding how AI-driven tools used in schools — from predictive analytics to automated grading and student risk-scoring systems — can perpetuate systemic inequities rather than remedy them. It offers a compelling, accessible framework for critically evaluating the algorithmic systems increasingly embedded in K–12 education.

Irreplaceable: How AI Changes Everything (and Nothing) in Teaching and Learning

Maya Bialik, Bob Nilsson

Irreplaceable explores the tension between AI's transformative potential and the enduring, irreplaceable elements of human teaching and learning. Authors Maya Bialik and Bob Nilsson argue that while AI is reshaping educational tools, workflows, and possibilities, the core human relationships and developmental experiences at the heart of education remain fundamentally unchanged. The book provides educators with a framework for discerning which aspects of their practice AI can enhance versus which must remain deeply human. It serves as both a philosophical grounding and a practical guide for teachers navigating the rapidly evolving AI landscape in K-12 settings.