T姻AIlblazing is a monthly column capturing the latest trends and innovations surrounding artificial intelligence and its impact on K12 based on research and conversations with district leaders.
Nowadays, there’s an AI tool for everything: research, productivity, automation and AI-powered beehives that monitor bee health to prevent colony collapse (yes, it’s a real thing).
Today, we’re focusing on the tools that will help make you more productive, whether it’s improving your writing, seeking new ideas or organizing thoughts.
Google NotebookLM
Let’s start with one of my personal favorites that I’ve written about extensively: . In conversations with district leaders, I’ve learned that data privacy is their number one concern regarding AI implementation in a classroom or administrative setting.
According to Google, NotebookLM does not train its language model with the data you feed it. Your “sources,” which I’ll explain later, remain private to the user.
How it works is you upload a source, which could be a website link, text, audio files, PDFs or images. Your upload now serves as the primary source of information in response to your questions.
For instance, I’ve uploaded the 40-plus page U.S. Constitution. Now, I can ask NotebookLM detailed questions, create flashcards, generate reports, and even produce a “mind map,” which I’ve included below:
I can click on each of the topics and prompt discussions on each of the articles and their context within the Constitution.
This could be an incredible tool for breaking down federal and state policy updates, curriculum changes and district-wide frameworks.
Claude AI
The next tool we’ll explore is Claude AI, which is widely referred to as one of the best AI tools for writing. According to several reviews, its writing sounds less “robotic” than other models.
For example, let’s ask it to draft a back-to-school welcome from the superintendent. I included no details about my imaginary district. I simply asked Claude to “draft a back-to-school welcome from the superintendent for my school district’s website.”
Note: I’ve shortened the message for brevity.
“Welcome Back, [District Name] Families!
I hope you all had a restful and rejuvenating summer. As we prepare to embark on the 2026-2027 school year, I want to extend a warm welcome to our returning students and families, as well as those joining our district for the first time.
This new school year brings with it a sense of excitement and opportunity. Our dedicated educators and staff have been working hard to ensure our schools are ready to provide your children with an engaging and enriching educational experience. We have several new initiatives and enhancements in store that I’m eager to share with you in the coming weeks.
One of our key priorities this year is to foster a culture of inclusivity, where every student feels valued, supported, and empowered to reach their full potential. We will be rolling out new programs and resources to promote social-emotional learning, mental health awareness, and community-building across all grade levels.
As we embark on this new journey together, I encourage you to stay involved and engaged with your child’s education. Open communication between home and school is crucial to our students’ growth and achievement. Please do not hesitate to reach out to your child’s teacher or school administration if you have any questions or concerns.”
I’m also using the free version. Quality drastically improves when you upgrade to premium.
Perplexity
Finally, I’m introducing Perplexity, which brands itself as a smarter, faster alternative to traditional search engines.
It allows users to ask more complex questions than they would using Google. For example, I asked, “What percent of public school districts are facing enrollment declines, and what strategies are superintendents using to combat the issue?”
Perplexity gathered 19 sources, including news articles, research reports and U.S. Department of Education data, to produce an incredibly detailed response.
According to Perplexity, roughly one-third of superintendents are planning for enrollment declines. In response, leaders are rolling out marketing and communications campaigns, redesigning school programs and adjusting board policies to allow enrollment for families who work in the district but live elsewhere.
The company recently launched Perplexity Computer, a premium service that can manage multiple workflows at once. Here’s a remarkable demo:
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