Conversations around education today are dominated by a single theme: artificial intelligence. Every summit I attend has at least one panel on “AI in the Classroom.” Ed-tech start-ups pitch AI-powered tutors as the next big disruption. Parents ask whether ChatGPT will replace teachers. Policymakers warn that students will misuse AI to cheat.

However, we are all ignoring the deeper, more pressing crisis that lies behind this buzz. AI is not the real threat to education. We are.

According to UNESCO’s 2023 report, only 40% of primary schools globally have internet access. In the least developed countries, rural connectivity is as low as 14%. To put this in perspective, that means more than half of the world’s children cannot even join the digital race that AI enthusiasts are so excited about.

While we are debating whether AI can teach quantum physics to a fifth grader, millions of children cannot load a simple webpage. Every conference I attend is about “AI transformation,” but I have yet to see one session on “How to get WiFi to a village school.” Every start-up pitch celebrates “personalized AI tutoring,” but almost none are about “solar-powered internet hubs” or low-bandwidth learning solutions.

We are solving tomorrow’s problems while neglecting today’s crisis.

The paradox is stark. In ten years, AI may be extraordinary, capable of tailoring lessons to every child’s pace, providing instant feedback, and simulating real-world problem-solving. But if we do not address infrastructure first, these tools will only reach those already privileged with access.

The education gap of the future will not simply be about good versus bad teachers. It will be about who is even connected at all.

Already, India offers a glimpse of this divide. Urban private schools are experimenting with AI-driven lesson plans and adaptive assessments. Meanwhile, in rural Jharkhand or Uttar Pradesh, many government schools still struggle with erratic electricity supply and patchy internet. A child in Delhi might use an app to learn coding; a child in rural Bihar may still wait for a functional classroom or a working computer lab.

The risk is that AI becomes not a bridge to equity, but a wall reinforcing inequality.

Education gaps used to be about textbooks, qualified teachers, or classroom sizes. We fought those battles, with varying degrees of success. Today, the new battleground is digital access. Yet most of our intellectual energy is going into questions like: Will AI make students lazy? Will it erode critical thinking?

These debates matter, but they miss the larger point. Without connectivity, millions of children will never even encounter the very technology we are worrying about. It is as if we are designing futuristic highways while ignoring the fact that half the villages don’t even have roads.

We tend to glamorize innovation when it comes with sleek technology or buzzwords.

However, sometimes the simplest innovations are the most radical. A solar-powered internet hub in a remote village. A low-bandwidth app that delivers foundational literacy lessons without requiring high data consumption. A community learning center that provides shared access to devices after school.

These are not glamorous ideas. They are not likely to win big start-up funding rounds or make headlines at global conferences. But they are the ideas that will decide whether AI becomes a tool for all children, or just for those who were already privileged.

India has one of the world’s largest school-going populations. We also have over 650 million smartphone users. The potential for transformation is immense. Yet, a report by UNICEF notes that over 60% of children in rural India have limited or no access to digital devices. During the pandemic, this meant that while urban students continued learning online, millions in rural areas lost nearly two years of schooling.

If AI is to be part of India’s education revolution, it cannot be layered on top of existing inequalities. Its foundation must be access. The government's BharatNet project and Digital India program, which seek to bring broadband connectivity to villages, are steps in this direction. But innovation needs to accelerate and focus on connectivity itself, not just content.

Even if connectivity is restored, there is still a possibility. We may begin to imagine AI replacing teachers. This would be a grave mistake.

AI can give instant feedback. It can track performance. It can even adapt lessons. But it cannot replace the warmth of a human connection. No student will ever return years later to “thank the algorithm.” What stays with them is the teacher who believed in them, the mentor who encouraged their questions, the adult who calmed their nerves before an exam. Machines cannot mediate a quarrel between classmates, sense when a child is struggling silently, or spark wonder through a story told with passion.

Moving forward, we should envision teachers as part of the solution, rather than as a casualty. Imagine assessments being done via AI, relieving teachers of the burden of excessive paperwork. Now envision classrooms in which a teacher is responding to students in new and engaging ways with AI processing information and real-time understanding data informing them on the particular students who potentially may be needing issues.

That is the goal, for technology to be helpful rather than to supplant the comparisons humans rely upon.

With continued effort along this pathway, history will look back and say to humanity: "They created brilliant tools, but only for those who already had doors to unlock." We need to ask ourselves this straightforward question: are we creating an inclusive educational future or are we creating a gap that technology will never be able to overcome?

The future of education will be determined less by AI’s capabilities and more by our willingness to solve the unglamorous problems: internet connectivity, electricity, teacher training, community infrastructure. AI may be dazzling, but without these basics, it will remain a luxury for the few.

The real disruption is not AI. It is equity. It is ensuring that every child, regardless of zip code, can benefit from the tools of tomorrow.

A final thought. AI is not the threat to education. Our misplaced priorities are. If we can shift our focus from talking about the future to the urgent needs of the present, we can ensure that when AI transforms education, it does so for everyone, not just those who are already ahead.

Developing more intelligent technology is not the only task at hand. The goal is to create more equitable systems. Because only then will education live up to its full potential as a right, not a privilege.