A recent report from The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), Hand in Hand: Schools’ Embrace of AI Connected to Increased Risks to Students, provides the results of nationally representative surveys of high school students, middle and high school teachers and parents regarding artificial intelligence (AI) in 2024–25 and four emerging hazards related to its use in education.
“The frequency and variety of AI uses continues to grow; at the same time, the increased use of AI in educational settings is correlated with heightened risks to students,” the report states.
Those risks, which increase the more a school incorporates AI, include data breaches or ransomware attacks; tech-enabled sexual harassment and bullying; AI systems that don’t work as intended; and troubling interactions between students and the technology.
“Identifying the concrete risks that accompany the use of AI in schools enables educators, school administrators, policymakers, and communities to mount prevention and response efforts such that the positive uses of AI do not inadvertently harm students,” according to the report.
Survey findings
Eighty-five percent of teachers, 86 percent of students and 75 percent of parents surveyed indicated that they have used AI during the 2024–25 academic, most commonly for personal purposes, although 50 percent of students said they had used it for school.
“Parents with higher incomes or who live in urban and suburban areas report higher rates of AI use for themselves and their children, which could be indicative of an AI divide,” according to the report.
Students whose schools use AI for many reasons cite higher levels of concern regarding the technology than their peers whose schools only use it for some or few purposes. Fifty-six percent of students whose schools use AI for multiple reasons said that using it in class makes them feel less connected to their teacher and 51 percent said AI exposes their peers to extreme or radical views they otherwise wouldn’t be exposed to. Thirty-nine percent of these students shared concerns that an AI tool will treat them unfairly.
“Teachers who use AI for many school-related reasons are more likely to report negative consequences that harm students and undermine trust,” the report states. “Students whose school uses AI for many reasons are more likely to report that they or a friend of theirs has had a back-and-forth conversation with AI, like chatbots, in potentially troubling ways.”
Additionally, 71 percent of teachers worry at least somewhat that students’ use of AI weakens critical skills they need including writing, reading comprehension and research.
Overall, “Teachers note several benefits of AI use in the classroom, but it comes with a burden,” according to CDT. “Teachers see AI as a way to improve their teaching methods and skills, enable students to have more personalized learning, and foster more time for teachers to directly interact with their students. That said, they also lament the additional burden AI places on them to determine if student work is authentically their own.”
While AI literacy training and guidance are viewed as helpful by teachers and students, it’s not kept up with AI adoption and known risks, the surveys found.
Read more findings in the report, which also covers deepfake imagery, student activity monitoring, privacy issues related to transgender and immigrant students and more.
