The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) in K-12 schools has accelerated, with 46% of teachers indicating it was generally permitted in the 2024-2025 school year, up from 36% in the previous school year, according to a national survey of teachers, parents, and students conducted by the nonpartisan, nonprofit Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT).
Eighty-five percent of teachers reported that they used AI in the classroom during the past school year, and 50% of students said they used AI for school. However, AI use has introduced significant challenges, the survey found.
Half of students said that AI makes them feel less connected to their teachers and affects their relationships with other students and their parents, according to the CDT report, “Hand in Hand: Schools’ Embrace of AI Connected to Increased Risks to Students.”
Seventy percent of teachers reported that they are worried about AI preventing students from learning critical skills.
“Our survey research shows that educators and students alike see AI playing a role in the classroom and that they are simultaneously experiencing unintended consequences related to the use of this technology,” said CDT President and CEO, Alexandra Reeve Givens in a statement.
“The potential benefits of AI in the classroom cannot distract us from the core mission of schools – ensuring every student reaches their full potential,” she added.
AI use appears to differ across economic backgrounds, CDT found, with more students from higher income families using AI more frequently than those from lower income families.
Parents’ use of AI also impacts the way that their children use AI in school. Parents who use AI frequently showed less concern about their children’s AI use and were most likely to report that that their child’s school provided guidance on AI use.
Teachers and students who reported many school-related uses of AI were also more likely to report exposure to risks such as data breaches or ransomware attacks, tech-enabled sexual harassment and bullying, AI systems that do not work as intended, and troubling interactions between students and technology.
However, only one in 10 teachers reported they have been trained on how to respond if they think students’ AI use is detrimental to their well-being.
To address this, CDT joined a coalition of nine organizations that have written to Education Secretary Linda McMahon asking the Department of Education to integrate responsible AI use principles into a recent White House executive order promoting the use of AI in K-12 schools.
“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. 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,” said Elizabeth Laird, director of the Equity in Civic Technology Project at CDT, in a statement.