Rising Use of AI in Schools Comes With Big Downsides for Students

Teachers’ and students’ use of artificial intelligence in K-12 classrooms is increasing at a rapid pace, prompting serious concerns about the potentially negative effects on students, a new report concludes.

Eighty-five percent of teachers and 86% of students used AI in the 2024-25 school year, according to “Schools’ Embrace of AI Connected to Increased Risks,” a report released today by the nonprofit Center for Democracy and Technology.

One of the negative consequences AI is having on students is that it is hurting their ability to develop meaningful relationships with teachers, the report finds. Half of the students agree that using AI in class makes them feel less connected to their teachers. A decrease in peer-to-peer connections as a result of AI use is also a concern for teachers (47%) and parents (50%), according to the report.

Other big concerns also showed up in the results. Seventy percent of teachers worry that AI weakens critical thinking and research skills, according to the report. It draws from nationally representative surveys of public school teachers in grades 6-12, parents of students in grades 6-12, and students in grades 9-12, and was conducted between June and August.

“As many hype up the possibilities for AI to transform education, we cannot let the negative impact on students get lost in the shuffle,” said Elizabeth Laird, director of the equity in civic technology project at the Center for Democracy and Technology, in a press release.

“Our research shows AI use in schools comes with real risks, like large-scale data breaches, tech-fueled sexual harassment and bullying, and treating students unfairly,” Laird said. “Acknowledging those risks enables education leaders, policymakers, and communities to mount prevention and response efforts so that the positive uses of AI are not overshadowed by harm to students.”

Two ways to address the potentially negative effects are for schools to develop AI training and craft policies that put meaningful guardrails around its use, experts said.

“What schools need to do is help teachers and students use [AI tools] in the right and best ways,” said Joseph South, the chief innovation officer for ISTE + ASCD, a nonprofit organization that provides resources for educators about educational technology and curriculum. “If we do that, I believe, over time, we’ll be able to increase the value and decrease the risk.”

Risk factors for students and teachers using AI

Some of the ways teachers have been using AI include curriculum and content development (69%), student engagement (50%), professional development (48%), and grading tools (45%), the survey found.

Experts say a key reason for the increased use of the technology among teachers could be due to educational tools automatically adding AI as a feature. Twenty-four percent of teachers reported this being the case, according to the report by the Center for Democracy and Technology, a nonprofit that shapes technology policy with a focus on equity and civil rights and liberties.

“I’m not surprised to hear that 85% of teachers have used it in some way,” South said. “AI really does two things: One is it helps a teacher do their job more efficiently, and anything that helps a teacher save time is going to get taken up. The second is it can help them do their job more effectively.”

The report found that 69% of teachers said AI tools have improved their teaching methods/skills, 59% said AI has enabled more personalized learning, and 55% said AI has given them more time to interact directly with students.

On the other hand, 71% of teachers said student use of AI has created an additional burden on them to understand whether a student’s work is their own, the report found.

Student use of AI is different from that of teachers, said Robbie Torney, senior director of AI programs at Common Sense Media, a nonprofit that studies the effect of media and technology on children.

AI technologies were originally intended for getting tasks done quickly, which in education benefits teachers, who might want to maximize their time by finishing administrative tasks faster. But for students, there isn’t any guarantee they can use AI to learn faster, said Torney.

“These large language models aren’t necessarily optimized for the task of learning, which is slower [and] takes effort,” said Torney. “In general, [we] have seen a little bit of a slower uptake among officially sanctioned school uses of AI with kids.”

Some of the ways students have been using AI include for tutoring (64%) and for college or career advice (49%).

But the report notes that the problem is those kinds of academically focused uses quickly turn to seeking advice on relationships (43%) or mental health support (42%). And these kinds of human-machine conversations with AI often happen using tools or software provided by schools.

“A lot of the risks that [the report] flagged … those are familiar, they existed pre-AI,” said Torney. “But the introduction of AI into the system sort of amplifies or exacerbates some of those risk categories.”

Teachers need more training, and students need AI literacy

The best way for schools and districts to address risks and concerns that come with increased use of AI tools is by providing professional development for teachers and AI literacy lessons for students, experts have said.

By that standard, schools and districts are lagging behind. Even though most teachers and students are already using AI, less than half of them have received training or information about the technology from their schools or districts, according to the report.

Less than half of teachers (48%) have participated in any training or professional development on AI provided by their schools or districts; and less than half of students (48%) said someone at their school provided information to students on how to use AI for schoolwork or personal use, the report found.

To make matters worse, the content of the training or information provided on AI doesn’t always cover all of the basics, according to the survey.

For instance, less than a third of teachers say their training included guidance on how to use AI tools effectively (29%), what AI is and how it works (25%), and how to monitor and check AI systems (17%), the report found.

Many students are also left to navigate AI on their own. Few have received guidance on the school policy for AI use (22%), the risks of using AI (17%), and what AI is and how it works (12%), the according to the report.

That basic grounding is critically important for students and teachers, South said, so they can move on to more meaningful and sophisticated use of the technology.

To do that, experts said schools need funding and resources to provide teachers and students with the training and information they need to be successful users of AI tools.

The Trump administration has made advancing the use of AI in education one of its top educational priorities, and more recently, major technology companies have started to team up with education organizations to provide free teacher training and resources. Some AI critics, however, have raised concerns that schools are buying into the AI hype too quickly and without enough skepticism.

Still, schools have a responsibility to teach students about this technology that will be important for their future careers, South said.

“All of us as a society have the potential to level up the work that we do with the help of AI,” South said. “We can help students level up their work as well, but teachers need that training to help them do it right.”

Jennifer Vilcarino is a digital news reporter for Education Week.

Lauraine Langreo is an Education Week staff writer, covering education technology and learning environments.