In 1990, when I was a 25-year-old legislator in Iowa, homeschooling was either illegal or treated with suspicion by those who controlled the education establishment. Today, few people bat an eye when a family chooses to homeschool. It took roughly 25 years, but homeschooling is now largely mainstream.

The same arc applies to charter schools. Nearly three decades ago, California voters approved the first statewide charter referendum—despite stiff opposition. Today, charters are part of the fabric of American education.

School choice and innovation continue to gather momentum. But we’re now standing at the edge of a shift bigger than any reform we’ve seen.

The AI Educator Tsunami on the Horizon

I recently saw this on X from Bill Ackman, a person with the means to make things happen.

Investor voices and educators alike are signaling what’s next: an AI revolution in teaching and learning. While the “blackboard to whiteboard” statement understates the impact of computers and the internet, it correctly points to the next leap—AI tutors that personalize instruction at scale.

As with any transformation, there will be skeptics, poor implementations, and real concerns to address. But the simple fact is this: conversational AI tutors are out of the gate, and they aren’t going back.

Consider these key points:

• A 2024 Harvard study found AI tutors doubled learning gains, with faster mastery and higher engagement across diverse student groups.
• Students can hold two-way conversations with a tutor that knows their classes, strengths, and struggles.
• Unlike human office hours, AI tutors are available 24/7.
• Unlike static web pages or videos, an AI tutor adapts in real time, moving with the learner to resolve misconceptions.
• Unlike a standard textbook, an AI tutor can sit on every page—explaining, teaching, or translating any paragraph.
• And for those worried about “brain rot,” high-quality AI tutors probe understanding and require students to explain their reasoning, not just guess answers.

But What About the Humans?

You’ll hear the standard line: “AI only supplements current instruction.” That’s a comforting Wizard-of-Oz script—follow the Yellow Brick Road and nothing really changes.

The truth is: the role of humans will change—dramatically. The aspiration of “every student with a personal teacher” becomes practical when each learner has a dedicated AI tutor plus human educators who coach, curate, and connect learning to real-world tasks. Look at Alpha School: students spend focused time with AI-delivered instruction, then shift to hands-on projects and human-led activities. Did they eliminate teachers? No. Did they redefine the teacher’s role? Absolutely—toward mentoring, feedback, and complex, human work.

When Will We Begin Seeing These Changes?

Change in education happens gradually—until it happens suddenly. Here’s a realistic trajectory:

2026–2030: Early adopters pilot AI tutor platforms and then normalize them as a mainstream tool. Many schools follow the leaders. Some will market themselves as “human-only” alternatives.

2030–2035: Expect political battles over adoption. In states with robust school choice, families will vote with their feet. Elsewhere, the debate plays out in legislatures and boards.

2035 and beyond: The transition won’t be “over,” but it will be settled. Families will have found their preferred models (and, yes, students who attend a physical school will be commuting in self-driving cars by then, but I digress).

What Today Looks Like

Companies like ours are pioneering AI tutor platforms—ours is HoloTutor—and introducing them to schools and families. The space will crowd quickly as demand grows. Expect everything from driver’s-ed prep to nursing certification to become standard AI-tutor curricula. The giant LLM vendors will keep improving the plumbing, but specialists in education will shape the learning experience—curriculum design, assessment, safety, and pedagogy.

Most of all, development will move faster than adoption, because… humans are human. Trust must be earned. Guardrails must be built. Teachers and parents need clarity on privacy, transparency, and academic integrity.

Our Role: Building HoloTutor for Real Classrooms

At VictoryXR, we’re building HoloTutor—a conversational, 3D avatar tutor accessible in Chrome or Safari. It’s designed by a former classroom teacher working with our developers, and it provides 30 standards-aligned lessons per grade (starting with Grades 3–4 in math), all available 24/7. The goal isn’t to replace teachers; it’s to amplify them—freeing human educators for higher-value mentoring and hands-on work while every student gets consistent, patient, personalized help.

The next big upheaval is here. Let’s shape it with intention—pairing the scale and precision of AI with the wisdom, creativity, and care of educators.

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Steve Grubbs, VictoryXR CEO, advances immersive education via VR and AI, creating HoloTutor and VXRLabs to transform classrooms, and workforce training. He is the former chair of the House Education Committee in the Iowa Legislature.

I use AI for editing (spelling, grammar, structure) after my initial draft.