Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly changing the education landscape across the country — and the policies that shape it. During the 2025 legislative session alone, all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands introduced AI policies, and 38 states adopted or enacted approximately 100 measures, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. 

In the education sector, AI offers the promise of improving learning for students and teachers while simultaneously posing significant risks when it comes to how and when to integrate the rapidly developing technology into classrooms.

As the sector works to balance the opportunities and challenges of AI, sound policies that guide its use in schools are more important than ever. From understanding policy issues to addressing implementation challenges to translating questions into actionable guidance for school leaders, the sector has more questions than answers. That’s where Bellwether and the Policy Innovators in Education (PIE) Network can help.

To support education leaders as they grapple with difficult questions around AI’s use in education, Bellwether and PIE Network have teamed up to create the AI Policy Hub — an initiative that launched in February 2026 to connect PIE Network members with resources, support, and national experts on AI in education.

Specifically, the AI Policy Hub offers:

• The AI Policy Learning Lab connects education advocacy organizations with the nation’s leading experts on applications of AI in education to build their understanding of this rapidly changing technology. The Lab will provide expert guidance on timely questions, synthesize information from educational resources, create field-facing materials that address key questions, and facilitate shared learning for experts and practitioners to explore recent AI advances in the field.
• The State Advocacy Learning Cohort, launching in summer 2026, will strengthen state advocates’ knowledge and understanding of AI practice and policies that impact education. A small group of PIE Network members will apply to participate in monthly facilitated meetings to learn about AI use cases in education, share emerging themes and learnings, and discuss critical questions in emerging AI technology and policy. All participants will leave the cohort with drafted AI vision statements and guiding principles for their organization’s work moving forward.

Through this PIE Network partnership and our growing AI portfolio of work, Bellwether is focused on understanding how AI is poised to reshape the education sector by doing what we do best: digging into the nuances, identifying patterns, and separating the signal from the noise. This AI Policy Hub initiative will leverage the best of PIE Network and Bellwether to help education leaders and organizations understand the rapid developments in this technology and the policies that come along with them. Working together, it will inform the field through objective analyses of AI policies and trends.

The AI Policy Hub is made possible through the generosity of the Walton Family Foundation. For more information about the AI Policy Hub or Bellwether’s work at the intersection of AI and policy, contact Mark Baxter (mark.baxter@bellwether.org).