AI in Education

By Teresa Sun December 10, 2025

The academic environment is rapidly shifting as Artificial Intelligence (AI) moves from a theoretical concept to a powerful tool accessible to every student. While AI-driven systems have been evolving for decades, the current generation of Large Language Models has made personalized, on-demand academic assistance instantly accessible, enabling students to study smarter and more effectively, or perhaps for misuse. However, this rapid integration carries significant risks—the potential for misuse could turn a powerful learning aid into a tool for academic dishonesty.  

AI is transforming education with benefits that center on personalization and efficiency. AI-driven adaptive learning systems like Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS) create tailored educational experiences by analyzing data on student performance, pace, and preferences, allowing students to learn at their own speed and receive immediate feedback. This personalized approach has been cited by 55% of surveyed U.S. educators as improving learning outcomes, per Simmons School of Education & Human Development. Furthermore, AI offers valuable insights to educators by analyzing learning patterns in real-time, helping them to quickly adapt their teaching strategies and implement necessary interventions. This personalized, data-driven approach is reshaping the learning process, aiming to foster an educational environment that is more equitable and inclusive. 

“I see many students using AI as a learning supplement. It can be a tool if they need further explanation for a concept taught in class or generate practice questions for a quiz,” Wilson Yen, Math Department said. 

Students are integrating AI into their routines in specific ways depending on the subject matter. In STEM-heavy subjects like science and math, AI is primarily used for foundational understanding and working through practice problems because it can effectively explain difficult concepts. Conversely, in humanities subjects like English and history, AI serves more as a tool for practice, research, and creative support. Students use models like ChatGPT, when fed AP rubrics, to score their essays and provide detailed feedback, making the review process much faster.  

One of the coolest uses of AI was in AP Lang last year, we fed Chat GPT the AP Lang rubrics and had it score our essays and it actually gave pretty good detailed feedback,” Senior Avni Iyer said. 

Another major use case, regardless of subject, is efficiency; many students use AI as a shortcut to get busy work and assignments done quicker. However, it is crucial to distinguish between using AI as a learning tool and employing it for outright cheating. When AI is used for cheating, a student instructs it to complete an assignment and submits that output wholesale as their own, which is a direct act of academic dishonesty. In contrast, using AI as a study tool focuses on facilitating the learning process. Yet, even without cheating, students and teachers remain wary of AI’s potential for over-reliance. This dependence short-circuits the cognitive struggle necessary to build true expertise and automaticity. Junior Trisha Harish highlights the detrimental long-term effect of using AI for first draft writing practice in English classes, noting that students who skip the initial writing practice often see their timed writing assessment grades suffer.  

“A lot of my peers have heavy academic workloads, so AI is often used as a resource to study or get work done faster. However, students often use it as a short cut rather than for studying more effectively, which will hurt their grades long term,” Harish said. 

Teachers are confronting this challenge by strategically adapting their pedagogy. Since it is difficult to prevent students from using AI for homework, some balance academic fairness by making projects and assignments worth less and placing more emphasis on in-person, hand-written tests. This forces students to master the material independently to succeed on high-stakes assessments, ensuring they have the necessary knowledge beyond what an AI can generate.  

“I use an application that doesn’t allow pasting, tracks patterns of answers and monitors the time it took to write an answer to ensure authentic submission. However, people will find ways to disguise AI and get around AI checkers no matter what—there’s too much incentive to beat the system,” Scot Gillis, History Department, said. 

The integration of AI into education is not without its ethical and technical pitfalls. Students have noted that AI can be inaccurate or misleading if prompts are not very specific, and one of its persistent flaws is a lack of proficiency in complex math equations. Beyond technical limits, integrating AI includes the risk of bias and intellectual conformity. If algorithms inadvertently disadvantage certain groups or favor mainstream interpretations, the student may miss critical information and submit work that will be suspiciously similar to their peers. Critical issues regarding privacy and data security also persist due to extensive data collection. Furthermore, schools’ reliance on AI detection tools, like Turnitin AI, to monitor student work presents a complicated layer of scrutiny, where the risk of false positives can lead to unfair academic integrity accusations.  

“Most students who use AI are not copy pasting what it says directly into their assignments—they can still bypass AI detectors by using the generated idea and paraphrasing the information,” Junior Winston Robey said.  

Despite these challenges, AI is a technology that will not disappear in the future; how teachers and students adjust to this double-edged sword is the challenge at hand.  

“I gauge my students’ knowledge orally during in class discussions instead of giving homework.  When kids use AI without boundaries, they deprive themselves of learning experiences—they get the score they want, but they can’t describe the work they’ve done. To me, what they turn in has very little value.”  

“AI checkers are very easily avoided these days with humanizers and paraphrasing. I know my students well enough to see whether or not they used AI on their assignments.”  

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About the Contributor

Teresa Sun is a junior at Leland High School and the Front Page and Lifestyle page editor for the Charger Account. She spends most of her time at the dance studio practicing for competitions or locked in her room playing the violin and doing homework, but can be occasionally spotted hanging out with friends at the mall.