Mobile Phones in Schools are Bad, But AI Learning Tools are "Different"

This article from the Independent caught my eye this morning, "AI tutoring to be introduced across UK schools". There really is much to dissect with what the UK government is proposing and I'll follow up with a another post on it. For now I'm going to focus on a particular statement that the education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, is reported to have said at the Bett Show UK last week.

“And we all know that mobile phones have no place in our schools, but AI learning tools are different.”

I don't know about you, but I find that quite a sweeping and odd statement. I think I know what she is getting at. She is jumping on the current movement around removing mobile phones from schools. I understand the issues around this, students can be distracted by their phones which is then possibly affecting student behaviour, learning and relationships with others. But I also know the mobile phone itself is not necessarily the problem, the problem is the highly addictive social media platforms that the students are using, and other applications, that keep us all constantly engaged and open to misuse within school. Something that successive governments have done very little about for about the last 15 years in tackling and only now appear to be looking at regulating. Is she ignoring or is unaware of the fact that "AI learning tools" run on mobile phones? She also appears to be suggesting that one technology is automatically acceptable (AI technology platforms) while the other (which is actually a digital device) should be banned from schools. Ignoring the fact that AI tools will run on most digital devices, including mobile phones. Simply put, she appears to say, this thing is bad (mobile phones) and this thing is good (AI learning tools). Am I right in thinking that this looks a lot like 'technological determinism' in action here from the UK government? That one should not be used in our schools, while the other is 'different' and therefore should be. If this is the case, I'm sure there are many would certainly question that position. AI learning tools could certainly raise similar questions to mobile phones around distractibility along with privacy, and also wider concerns around social, intellectual and environmental harms.