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AI is already in classrooms—but is it helping or harming students? A classroom teacher and parent explains the real risks, benefits, and how to use AI responsibly in schools.
As conversations around AI in education continue to grow, many educators and parents are asking the same questions: Is AI helping or harming student learning? And how should schools respond?
This perspective is written by Lara, ROYO’s cofounder, who works with students every day and is also a parent herself. Grounded in both classroom experience and real-life parenting, her reflections explore the concerns and opportunities of AI use with children.
AI in schools raises concerns about reduced critical thinking, lower effort, misinformation, and weakened student-teacher relationships.
As an elementary school teacher and a parent of elementary-aged children in the New York public school system, I am fortunate that there has not been an overemphasis of AI in classrooms. However, the insistence that children should have zero exposure to AI feels unrealistic. There are some tools that genuinely enhance learning or can be used to differentiate instruction for learners.
Nevertheless, there is a real concern that AI use will negatively impact children’s creativity, ability to think critically, and willingness to put in effort. More than ever, children need strong analytical skills to navigate the excessive misinformation generated by AI and circulating as fact. ChatGPT and other large language models are not flawless and have been known to fabricate information, presented as research. Without proper intellectual reasoning and an ability to question content, our children are at risk of becoming passive members of society who will pass on and believe misinformation and ultimately lack judgment.
As an educator of twenty years and a reading specialist, I have anecdotally seen a noticeable decline in children’s executive functioning skills. Overall effort and frustration tolerance has decreased, and I have seen a dramatic increase in reading difficulties. Learning requires struggle, thinking, mistakes, and second and third tries. Learning isn’t always fun and can’t be done for someone if the goal is skill development. In the name of engagement and support, tools are being created that may ultimately weaken the very skills they claim to strengthen.
Some AI systems used in the classroom are designed to support student learning and provide feedback for students. These tools have the potential to be fantastic assistants to teachers managing large class sizes and increasingly unrealistic demands. In my daughter’s fourth grade classroom, students use a system that grades and evaluates student work, providing them with written guidance with the intention of growth through these insights. The concept is strong and the use case for children using this type of AI is responsible. Yet, is it useful?
My daughter has reported never implementing the feedback given. Worse, many of her classmates came home upset that they “failed ‘tests’,” receiving 2 out of 4 on the assignments. They did not apply the feedback to improve their work and the teacher never used it to pull small groups or teach into it in one-on-one conferences. This highlights a deeper concern that is not just AI’s impact on children. The meaningful dynamics in the classroom are affected, which may cause a separation between teachers and students when the tools are replacing instruction.
AI should support thinking and effort—not replace it—and students must be taught how to question and verify information.
Rejecting AI is not an option. It is not only the future, but a reality of the present. If our goal in education is to foster successful, contributing members of society, students must be armed with real-world skills as well as the benefits and limitations of AI.
With the removal of effort in favor of speed and convenience, our students’ intelligence, creativity, and ability to think for themselves is at risk. It is imperative that one of the guiding discussions should revolve around why thinking matters. Students need to have a deep understanding of what they will lose or never even gain if they rely entirely on AI. Exercising their brains is critical and learning is not possible without effort. Copying without reading limits growth and increases the likelihood of handing in inaccurate work.
Trust is another huge issue with AI. Our privacy is constantly under attack in the digital world and AI is no exception. Students must learn what information is safe to share with AI chatbots and what should remain private. The trust issue is not just about confiding in AI, but also about whether the information being received is trustworthy and accurate.
It is not uncommon that people are fed false information. AI is so eager to validate the user that it will fabricate images and research, so students must be able to verify the information they are getting. Just as we teach (or should teach) our students to read articles critically and consider, “Whose perspective is missing in this article?”, we must teach them to approach AI responses with the same level of scrutiny. Teachers need to lean into critical thinking skills more than ever.
There should also be guidelines about how AI can be used, not just the risks. It can be incredibly beneficial for students if they use AI as an editor and teacher. Students can ask AI to edit their papers and explanations for the suggested editorial changes. This creates a learning opportunity for grammar, spelling, or sentence structure.
It can also help to explain or break down homework that feels difficult or impossible. If a child doesn’t have parental support at home, AI can clarify what the question is asking, model how to solve it, and provide similar questions to practice. We want AI to support effort rather than replace it.
Parents and teachers should set boundaries, prioritize relationships, and guide students to use AI responsibly—not as a replacement for thinking or connection.
There is a growing concern that AI may weaken human companionship. Therefore, strengthening relationships is critical and parents and teachers must guide school-age children in the direction of peer connection. This generation cannot afford for its grownups to have the mindset of “It won’t happen to my kids or students.”
There is also an opportunity to deepen our relationships with our kids by spending time experimenting and exploring AI together. As a class or family, come up with guiding principles together and set boundaries as a team. When children set the expectations and understand the reasoning behind them, they are more likely to follow them.
Teachers also have a responsibility to encourage more collaboration among students and limit technology use in the classroom. Not only are there educational benefits to reducing technology in the classroom, but it will benefit everyone’s social-emotional development to have social interaction.
This obligation falls on parents as well. AI is not a substitute for a real friend, no matter how much it validates and flatters them. Parents must make the effort to provide occasions for playdates, conversations, and in-person connections for their kids.
AI use in schools needs to be intentional and used in ways that strengthen thinking, effort, and human connection.
AI in education is not a simple “good or bad” conversation. It is about how we use it.
Used well, AI can support learning, expand access, and provide meaningful feedback. Used poorly, it can reduce effort, weaken thinking, and disrupt the human relationships that matter most in education.
The goal is not to remove AI—but to ensure it supports effort, thinking, and connection, not replaces them.
The biggest concerns include reduced critical thinking, decreased effort, misinformation, and over-reliance on technology that replaces meaningful learning and human interaction.
AI can improve learning when used to support instruction, provide feedback, and help students practice skills. It is most effective when it enhances effort rather than replaces it.
AI is not inherently bad, but overuse or misuse can impact creativity, problem-solving, and social development if it replaces thinking and human interaction.
The best approach is guided use. Parents and teachers should explore AI with children, set clear expectations, and teach them how to question and verify information.
At ROYO, we believe literacy is not just about decoding words—it’s about thinking, questioning, and expression. AI should move students closer to that goal, not further away.
