The Ethics of Using AI to Create and Sell Classroom Resources

Amanda Werner and Jessica Martin discuss their evolving views on AI, debating the ethics of using tools like Claude to create teacher resources and whether it’s acceptable to sell AI-assisted products on Teachers Pay Teachers. They describe earlier anti-AI concerns about uncredited “borrowing,” environmental impact, and threats to creative work, alongside current reliance on AI for heavy workloads, including generating 35-page weekly lesson plans that save significant time. Amanda shares she has created multiple AI-assisted, password-protected free slide decks via an email opt-in and feels tempted to sell them, while weighing transparency and the risk that AI “flatters” users. They also consider how AI could flood marketplaces, reduce value, reshape educators into editors, and push classrooms away from busywork toward discussion-based learning and human connection, including time outdoors.00:00 AI Ethics Debate Setup01:19 From Anti AI to Hypocrisy Fears03:20 Using AI for Lesson Plans05:42 Selling AI Made Curriculum Dilemma08:58 Amanda Uses Claude for Slides15:18 Claude Weighs In on Ethics19:58 Transparency and Market Flooding25:40 AI Changes Classroom Learning31:29 Human Connection in AI Age33:36 Nature Unplugging and Wrap Up