Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a machine that’s been taught to act like the human mind with abilities such as decision-making and problem solving. Every year, AI is used by more people to generate written texts such as lists, advice or research. While AI is helpful, many students have begun abusing generative AI to complete school assignments instead of learning the material. In response, schools have enacted strict punishments, such as failing assignments, for the use of AI in assignments. Despite this stance against AI, schools have begun requiring teachers to use AI for classroom tasks. Overall, people in public schools are developing a greater reliance on AI, which is causing a disconnect between students, teachers and learning as a whole.

To begin, a study by the Center of Democracy and Technology (CDT) reported that 86% of students had used AI in the 2024 to 2025 school year. 64% of the students used AI for tutoring and 49% used AI for college or career advice. These students input a prompt into an AI program, for instance a math equation or question about college statistics, and receive an explanation. When asked, 50% of the students surveyed agreed that they felt less connected to teachers due to AI. The problem is that instead of talking to teachers, students are turning to AI for quick answers. Even though AI is helpful for a busy student, AI answers usually aren’t factually correct. The European Broadcasting Union discovered that AI programs gave users wrong information 45% of the time. Furthermore, Epoch AI, a research institute, found that AI programs answered less than 2% of 150 math questions correctly. Essentially, students are relying on untrustworthy AI for learning instead of their teachers.

Along with this, some teachers have begun using AI to generate lesson plans taken from existing lessons. Technically, this could be considered plagiarism as someone’s work is being taken without credit. Nonetheless, the CDT found that 85% of teachers have used AI from 2024 to 2025. According to Georgia State University professor G. Sue Kasun, who generates lessons with AI, “there were suggestions of offering different choices like having students generate an image, having students write a poem. And these are things that I could maybe think of but we have limits on our time[…]” Although Kasun is right that generating a lesson saves time, generated lessons won’t properly teach students. Researchers at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst discovered that 45% of the lessons generated by teachers focused on having students memorize information instead of evaluating or analyzing. This focus on memorization in the classroom prevents students from developing the critical thinking skills necessary for life.

Similarly, another concern is that teachers are using AI to grade student assignments. Marc Watkins, researcher and lecturer at the University of Mississippi, explained, “this sort of nightmare scenario that we might be running into is students using AI to write papers and teachers using AI to grade the same papers. If that’s the case, then what’s the purpose of education?” When AI is added to the equation, education becomes less reliable. The University of Georgia found that AI used to grade student assignments was only accurate 50% of the time when given a human-made rubric and 33.5% accurate without. Although AI saves time for teachers, students suffer from having incorrect information reinforced through AI when their correct answers are marked wrong.

With this in mind, to fix the problem of AI, schools should block AI programs on school WiFi. Frederick County Public Schools (FCPS) has blocked several websites through their WiFi, such as blogs, which prevents people from visiting these sites. This method would prevent teachers and students from using AI on school WiFi. Alongside this ban, teachers should vary their methods of learning in classrooms. A mix of videos or hands-on activities could connect with students more than the traditional workbook assignment, thereby causing them to be less likely to use AI for help. Furthermore, making teachers and students attend assemblies about the effects of AI could act as a consequence for using it for school. However, critics argue that students would use AI no matter what was implemented in schools. While it’s true there will always be some students who use AI, a WiFi block, new methods of teaching and assemblies can help lower the number of students who do use it. Realistically, AI is going to keep growing. According to the United Nations Trade and Development website, the AI industry will be worth $4.8 trillion in 2033. Therefore, even if AI can’t be fully prevented from being used in schools, measures to prevent its use will still help reduce the amount of students and teachers suffering from AI’s downsides.

Sources

• Barrilleaux, S. (2025, May 6). AI may speed up the grading process for teachers.

     UGA Today. Retrieved October 23, 2025, from https://news.uga.edu/

     ai-may-help-speed-up-grading/

• Gaines, L. V. (2025, October 2). Research, curriculum and grading: New data

     sheds light on how professors are using AI. NPR. Retrieved October 20,

     2025, from https://www.npr.org/2025/10/02/nx-s1-5550365/

     college-professors-ai-classroom

• Klein, A. (2025, June 30). Why AI may not be ready to write your lesson plans.

     EdjucationWeek. Retrieved October 23, 2025, from https://www.edweek.org/

     technology/why-ai-may-not-be-ready-to-write-your-lesson-plans/2025/06#:~:text

=Education%20technology%20companies%20are%20increasingly,or%20create%20a%20PowerPoint%20presentation

• Office of Communications, & College of Education. (2024, October 24). AI in

     schools: Pros and cons. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Retrieved

     October 20, 2025, from https://education.illinois.edu/about/news-events/

     news/article/2024/10/24/ai-in-schools–pros-and-cons

• Power, J. (2025, October 22). AI models misrepresent news events nearly half the

     time, study says. Aljazeera. Retrieved October 23, 2025, from

     https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2025/10/22/

     Ai-models-misrepresent-news-events-nearly-half-the-time-study-says

• Savitsky, Z. (2024, December 3). ‘Brutal’ math test stumps AI but not human

     experts. Science. Retrieved October 23, 2025, from

     https://www.science.org/content/article/

     brutal-math-test-stumps-ai-not-human-experts

• Stryker, C., & Kavlakoglu, E. (n.d.). What is artificial intelligence (AI)? IBM.

     Retrieved October 23, 2025, from https://www.ibm.com/think/topics/

     artificial-intelligence

• UN Trade and Development. (2025, April 7). AI market projected to hit $4.8

     trillion by 2033, emerging as dominant frontier technology. Retrieved

     October 23, 2025, from https://unctad.org/news/

     ai-market-projected-hit-48-trillion-2033-emerging-dominant-frontier-technology

• Vilcarino, J., & Langreo, L. (2025, October 8). Rising use of AI in schools

     comes with big downsides for students. EducationWeek. Retrieved October 20,

     2025, from https://www.edweek.org/technology/

     rising-use-of-ai-in-schools-comes-with-big-downsides-for-students/2025/10