Week in Edtech 5/27/26: AFT Reverses Course on AI, i-Ready Faces Backlash, New Federal School Choice Tax Credit, AI Remediation Gains Momentum, Anthropic Surges, and More! Feat. Noah Pickus of Duke University

The education technology sector faces a significant backlash cycle, characterized by growing skepticism toward AI integration, screen time, and assessment tools like iReady. While unions and parents express concerns over student engagement and data privacy, these tools remain vital for tracking outcomes and addressing learning gaps. Simultaneously, the emergence of federal education savings accounts signals a shift toward unbundling traditional schooling, creating new opportunities for supplemental, market-driven educational services. AI’s potential as a differentiated remediator offers a path forward, provided it supports human instruction rather than replacing it. Noah Pickus, Head of Global Strategy at Duke University, emphasizes that higher education must move beyond prestige-based replication. Instead, institutions should adopt open-source collaboration and pluralistic models to navigate global constraints, ensuring that innovation translates into tangible improvements in student learning and workforce readiness.