Schools are a melting pot of ideas and learning, so when innovative technology is created, like AI, schools are often the first places subjected to it. When AI first dropped onto the scene, it was hard to check for and was a fairly niche concept. Today AI is inescapable. It has made itself a crucial part of the internet. From Google searches to chatbots AI has proven itself to be very versatile. I often find myself interacting with it without choice. For example, when I’m doing CK-12 lessons for my biology class, or the constant ads for any number of new AI products.
Teachers and students have both adopted AI as part of their workflow. A report from the Walton Family Foundation finds that 60%of U.S. public school teachers used an AI tool for their work during the 2024-2025 school year. In another study from Impact Research, nearly 40%of middle and high school students admit they have used AI without teachers’ permission. I personally believe that there are far more students who use AI to cheat than reported in the study, simply because AI is so easy to use. Never before in history has anybody been able to create the volumes of work that AI allows for with such ease.
It’s because of this ease of use that AI has become such a sticking point in education. Often students use AI to complete assignments rather than doing it themselves. Some become reliant on AI to complete assignments, this changes assignments from being a learning opportunity into something to be outsourced.
I think AI’s novelty has given way to it being yet another tool. This tool offers a world of uses, some good and some bad. Despite it being a frequently used tool, AI’s future is uncertain. For students it could be used to personalize education and further their development, or it could start to counter the education system and damage it irrevocably. For teachers AIcould make it possible to offer high quality education to far more students than they can now, but it can also lead to a world where teachers must spend as much time checking for AI as they do teaching.
As of now, call me a techno-pessimist, but I really only see things getting worse. With the value placed on final products rather than the work used to get them, our education system seems very vulnerable to what AI offers. In the future, and even as soon as the 2026-2027 school year, I fear that many will be posed with a difficult choice: use AI and meet expectations, or don’t and fall behind. Ironically, as is precedent, we are living in unprecedented times, and my hope is that AI becomes a tool that expands the horizons of what is possible, rather than making what is currently possible trivial.
Article by Ty Jones