Future Focus | Before Your District Buys Another AI Tool, Ask These Questions

AI tools can look transformative in a demo and fall apart when they encounter the messy data, workflows, and institutional knowledge of a real organization. Drawing lessons from former Lululemon CIO Julie Averill’s warnings about “AI wishing” and “AI washing,” this episode challenges school leaders to stop chasing tools and instead identify where valuable expertise is trapped and build systems that scale it. 

Timestamps

• [00:02:00] The AI Buying Trap — Why impressive AI promises often collide with the realities of established organizations, and the importance of time, people, and budgets.
• [00:03:00] AI Wishing — How leaders can fall into believing AI will magically solve difficult problems without first doing the underlying organizational work.
• [00:07:00] AI Washing & the Human Cost — Why organizations may exaggerate AI progress and what premature AI-driven restructuring can do to employee trust.
• [00:13:00] The Painkiller vs. Vitamin Test — A practical framework for deciding whether an AI tool solves a genuine problem or simply looks good in a board presentation.
• [00:15:00] Scale Expertise, Not Tools — How “scaling statements” can help districts uncover expertise trapped in people’s heads or existing systems and turn it into repeatable organizational capability.

Explore More from Designing Schools

• AI Together - Sign up for the free seven-day challenge here with family and classroom versions, designed around 15–20 minute daily conversations about AI.
• Project Momentum - A 10-week experience for senior leaders focused on identifying and scaling expertise within their organizations: projectmomentum.ai. 
• 📘 Get the Book: Designing Schools - a practical blueprint to transform your campus with creativity, leadership, and innovation.
• 🎓 Prepare Your Students for an AI Future: The Future Ready Student AI Playbook a 10-hour course experience to graduate your students AI ready.

For questions, email: hello@designingschools.org