When you think about artificial intelligence (AI), do you get excited, or do you shut down? These seem to be the two responses among parents right now. Some are curious and eager to integrate new tech while others want to proceed with more caution and perhaps avoid AI if possible. But the thing is, it’s not going away. AI is going to be with our kids in schools for the foreseeable future. But will there be a negative impact of artificial intelligence on students?
Going forward, it’s going to help if we educate ourselves about what’s happening with AI in schools while staying aware of the fear and concerns it may bring. Currently, there are several big fears circulating about AI and learning in schools. Here are 6 of them.
1. Won’t kids cheat?
That’s the biggest question. And by now, you probably know AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Copilot can answer math questions, write essays, and provide answers at lightning speed. But interestingly, research from Stanford University found at the end of last year that “the popularization of A.I. chatbots has not boosted overall cheating rates in schools.” In surveys, researchers learned the percentage of students who cheated this year was the same as in previous years. What schools and parents need to do now is talk to kids about how to use AI in an ethical way. Cheating off a friend’s test is wrong and so is getting answers off ChatGPT. Teachers and parents will need to teach kids how to use AI as an educational tool instead of an answer key.
Even though most elementary schools are not giving kids access to chatbots right now, these tools will be free and available once your child gets his own phone or accesses the internet on a computer. So, take the time now to sit with your kids and talk with them about AI. Find out what they already know. And do research yourself. Getting familiar with AI will help you guide your children.
2. Won’t AI prevent my kid from actually learning?
In elementary school, kids will learn to read, do mental math, and memorize spelling words. They can’t fake that. And teachers will continue to assess students’ learning with in-class assignments and through verbal communication. AI won’t be a substitute for teacher-led instruction. But it can improve current teaching methods. Whereas in previous years, students had to wait for a teacher’s attention to receive help, now with AI, kids can continue to work at their own pace and use an AI-powered tutor to answer questions and assist in learning. AI will effectively eliminate downtime.
Many educational sources are also hopeful that AI tools will equalize learning for all students. According to the Ed Tech Review, “AI can assess each student’s abilities in real-time and tailor instruction to their needs.” It can also identify “achievement gaps” among groups and use adaptive testing to “adjust difficulty and question types based on performance.” In other words, AI can meet kids where they are academically, keep the learning going, and facilitate more productivity in the school day.
AI is going to change how learning looks for kids and has the potential to make it more exciting. And “integrating AI into education from an early age can help demystify the technology and foster AI literacy across all age groups,” says Samuel Mormando, Director of Technology at the Garnet Hill School District in Pennsylvania.
3. I’ve heard AI tools are biased. How can we allow our kids to use biased tech?
Using AI in the classroom is very new, and not all teachers or schools are familiar with it yet. Developers are also still tweaking algorithms and fixing issues. And this is important because bias has turned up in the responses generated by chatbots. Recently, Google took its AI-powered chatbot Gemini offline to address issues related to bias. And bias certainly would be a negative impact of artificial intelligence on students.
You might be wondering how this could happen. It goes back to the creation stage of large language models (LLMs). LLMs like Gemini and ChatGPT have been trained on vast amounts of data from many different sources on the internet. If the data contains gender, racial, or cultural bias, the LLM will learn those biases as well. The good news is big developers like Google and OpenAI are aware of this problem and continuously working to fine-tune their models.
For mostly older students whose teachers are integrating AI in lessons, AI tools can be used to make sure the materials are fair and inclusive. AI can flag “instances where certain students may be overlooked or underrepresented” and promote “more inclusive teaching practices” to foster “a sense of belonging for all students,” says THE Journal, an education and tech magazine.
Fortunately, for those of us with young children, elementary students are more likely to use AI-powered tutors and games in the classroom rather than LLMs. But, someday soon, your kids might ask for a phone or access a chatbot at school or a friend’s house. It’s a good idea to start talking about biases and misinformation with them now because just like humans, AI tools make mistakes.
4. Chatbots hallucinate. How’s it going to help my child learn if AI gets things wrong?
It’s true that AI doesn’t always get things right. CNET reports that chatbots hallucinate anywhere from 3% to 27% of the time. So, you have to be on your guard. Superintendent Kusum Sinha says that because AI doesn’t always have accurate information, “you may get some insights, but you still have to read, you still have to understand the topic that you are referring to. AI doesn’t replace people.” Teachers will need to navigate these issues and teach students how to view AI as a tool that needs to be cross-referenced and fact checked.
AI and learning will go increasingly hand in hand as the tech evolves and educators decide how best to integrate AI in the classroom. Because AI is now infiltrating everything from images to video and even audio recordings, it’s going to be crucial for our kids to learn to use the tech and engage with it as a critical thinker instead of just accept whatever it says as fact. If we don’t teach them to do this, there could be a negative impact of artificial intelligence on students.
5. Is AI going to replace teachers?
This fear stems from some misunderstandings about AI technology and its rapid growth. The reality is “AI is designed to augment, not replace, the role of educators,” says Samuel Mormando, Director of Technology, Innovation, and Online Learning at Garnet Valley School District. It’s a tool that helps teachers personalize learning, gives real-time feedback on student progress, and automates tasks to free up time for more interactive teaching.
Teachers do more than just impart information. Did you have a favorite teacher growing up? I bet it wasn’t her vast amount of knowledge you admired but the connection you felt with her. Teachers motivate and inspire students and they also teach empathy and morals, something AI cannot do. Human interaction in education is “irreplaceable,” says Mormando. When kids connect with a good teacher, they enjoy learning more and get more out of school. AI has the potential to assist with these possibilities.
6. Could AI harm my child?
Like the others, this is a legitimate concern. Its potential to hurt our kids is there when people are up to no good and have nefarious intentions. Or, it’s when kids use AI without having a good understanding of it.
As I discussed in this article on deepfakes, the potential is there for kids to hurt other kids using AI. Although schools have dealt with bullying issues long before AI, artificially-produced AI photos escalate the aggression. Teaching our kids how to use AI responsibly is the first step in preventing this. But what if your child is the target? In that case, let’s hope the school takes swift action to prevent and discourage this sort of thing from happening again. But remember: creating deepfakes isn’t a school-sanctioned activity. AI in the learning environment will only be used to enhance academic learning. If kids (or adults, for that matter) want to produce deepfakes (or simply send provocative texts, which has been happening for years), they’ll find a way.
Going forward, here’s what you can do.
Before you give a child a phone, remember to put on safeguards, limit social media apps, and block certain internet sites until she’s old enough or demonstrates responsibility to use them. Unfortunately, many teens today (and younger kids!) know more about tech than we do. And sometimes they get in over their heads. Before you allow your child to use ChatGPT or any other chatbot (Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, Copilot, etc.), be sure to go over rules and guidelines first. What’s your stance on creating and sending images? Look into privacy and security guide rails on your devices to ensure your kids’ data isn’t tracked by AI developers. It’s also a good idea to keep tech out of bedrooms and bathrooms.
Of course we want to keep our kids safe. Taking these initial steps to protect and educate them will be a good way to establish guidelines going forward. But once they’re handy with these tools, make sure to continue to check in on them.
Have you noticed any negative impact of artificial intelligence on students? If so, what?
