Julia Rafal-Baer@juliarafalbaer
A new @GirlScouts report should stop every education leader in their tracks.
Girls are not just using #AI to answer homework questions. They are turning to it for connection, advice, emotional support, and everyday decision-making. Among girls who use voice-assisted devices, 65% see them as “friends.” More than half of girls ages 11–13 have asked AI for help when they felt sad, anxious, or lonely. At the same time, 56% of parents say they do not feel equipped to teach their children how to use AI safely.
girlscouts.org/en/footer/pres…
That parental readiness gap reflects the broader challenge we’re seeing across AI adoption: leaders at the top must personally lean into the process, through personal use, personal understanding, and personal upskilling to navigate the transformation effectively.
We cannot treat AI as something young people will only encounter in a computer science class, a tutoring program, or a district-approved platform. It is already woven into how they seek information, process emotion, make choices, and understand the world.
And yet, too many adults, and leaders, are still on the sidelines.
This mirrors a broader American problem. As Drew Cukor recently argued in @FortuneMagazine, the U.S. is leading in AI creation from models to chips, but lagging in AI adoption.
fortune.com/2026/05/11/dre…
His point, informed by leading AI implementation at the Pentagon through Project Maven, is relevant across industries and sectors: AI transformation does not happen when leaders bolt tools onto old workflows. It happens when leaders own the work, redesign systems, and measure impact.
That is especially true in education.
AI cannot be a side project. It cannot live only with the technology team. It cannot be reduced to a policy memo, a vendor contract, or a handful of pilots.
This is a CEO-level, superintendent-level, cabinet-level leadership moment.
At @WeAreILO, our work with states and districts starts from a simple belief: AI is not just a tool to manage. It is a new organizational competency to build. Leaders need a clear vision, strong governance, human oversight, family engagement, staff training, and the courage to redesign systems around what students actually need.
The @GirlScouts report findings make the stakes plain. If young people are asking AI the questions they are afraid, unsure, or unable to ask adults, then education systems have to respond with more than caution. We need readiness. We need guidance. We need adults who are fluent enough to lead.
The future is not waiting for our comfort level to catch up.
Our children are already there.
Now leaders have to lead.
