Teachers Say AI Will Reshape Education More Than the Internet or Computers
Nearly three-quarters of K-12 teachers believe AI will have bigger implications for education than past innovations like the internet or computers, according to a new NPR/Ipsos poll of 545 teachers. Yet most educators remain conflicted about the technology: many use it to save time on lesson planning, but a majority worry it's making it harder for students to think critically.
The survey paints a picture of teachers caught between practical benefits and deeper concerns about student learning. Sixty percent of teachers say they've used AI themselves for work tasks, primarily to save time. But 54 percent say the technology makes it harder for students to develop critical thinking skills.
Teachers Use AI for Preparation, Not Classroom Instruction
AI remains largely absent from student classwork. More than half of teachers say students don't use the technology in class at all, while about 40 percent report students using it at least once a week.
Teachers who do use AI typically deploy it for administrative tasks rather than direct instruction. Michele Naber, a biology teacher at El Toro High School in Orange County, California, uses AI to generate multiple-choice questions for assessments - a task that once took an hour but now takes five minutes. She also has students use ChatGPT to describe animal characteristics, then verify the results against reliable sources.
"That's one of the things that has to be taught: You can't take it literally," Naber said.
Joann Purcell, a math teacher in suburban Chicago, uses AI to create professional development activities for other educators. But she avoids using it to generate math questions, saying the errors require more work to fix than writing questions from scratch.
Among teachers using AI for work tasks, most say the time savings amount to two hours or less per week.
The Critical Thinking Problem
Teachers worry students are treating AI as an answer machine rather than a thinking tool. Fifty-five percent of surveyed teachers say AI is mostly a shortcut for students to avoid doing work.
Christa Corricelli, a special education teacher outside Boston, said students who aren't already self-motivated critical thinkers could see those skills decline over time. "I think people who are not already that personality type, we're going to see those critical thinking skills atrophy over time," she said.
Naber said she feels responsible for teaching students to question and verify what AI produces. "If we stop questioning what it says, we can be led to believe anything. And that's what really scares me," she said.
Ellie Rodriguez, a special education teacher in Florida, sees value in AI for students with disabilities. One of her students on the autism spectrum used AI to complete an assignment he couldn't finish alone. But Rodriguez worries the technology could undermine learning for students who don't need the assistance.
AI Is Eroding Student-Teacher Trust
Nearly 60 percent of teachers say AI is eroding trust between students and teachers. About 40 percent have responded by requiring more assignments to be done by hand or in class.
Naber stopped offering extra credit for documented beach cleanups and habitat restorations after learning students could use AI to generate fake photos. She now requires all lab work to happen in class and has reduced homework's weight in grades.
Josh Kauffman, who teaches seventh-grade English at a virtual public school in Alabama, has noticed a substantial increase in AI-generated assignments. Since he can't require in-class work, he tries to convince students that their own writing has value. "I would rather deal with all of your typos and know that they're yours than to wonder how much you're standing on other people's shoulders," he said.
Not all teachers agree the technology has damaged trust. Purcell said students found ways to cheat long before AI existed. "I think teachers need to be creative in how they use it and force kids to think with it just like they would with any other tool," she said.
Schools Aren't Training Teachers to Handle AI
Most teachers are adapting to AI without clear guidance from their schools. About half of all surveyed teachers say their school hasn't offered any guidance on AI, or they're unsure what guidance exists. Only 35 percent of teachers whose school provides AI software say they have a formal policy on teacher use of the technology.
Just 40 percent of teachers report their school offers professional development or training related to AI.
Rodriguez said she hasn't received any training and wishes she had. "They need to teach us how to apply that information to what we do and most importantly to how we teach to be able to utilize [AI] in a positive way," she said.
Kauffman said schools need to pay more attention to how teaching itself must change to account for AI's capabilities. Corricelli said schools are often slow to adapt. "I think we're all just kind of trying not to drown with the whole thing," she said.
Teachers Want Schools to Teach Responsible AI Use
Nearly 80 percent of surveyed teachers believe schools should teach students how to use AI responsibly. This suggests teachers recognize the technology isn't going away and see education as the solution.
Teachers are looking to their districts for guidance on what responsible AI use looks like in practice. Many are currently figuring it out alone.
For more on how educators are approaching AI, see our AI for Education resources or explore our AI Learning Path for Teachers.
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