In a New Yorker column, Jessica Winter argues that venture capital, private equity, and A.I. have turned K-12 education into what she calls a technofeudalist nightmare, with New York City's schools paying tens of millions to venders like Amplify, Curriculum Associates, and H.M.H. in exchange for gamified apps and data-harvesting software. She traces the costs — dropping reading scores, eroded instruction time, de-skilled teachers — and finds hope in advocates' pushback, including the city's A.I. moratorium for young students.