AI has had a big effect on all of the world, but in this article, we will focus on the effects it’s having on kids in schools and how it can affect them later on.

Why did it start being used?

Kids started using AI because of all the advertisements on social media telling them it could help them make their work even better or with other things, like coming up with ideas. AI was used to help them fix things like grammar and punctuation, but they soon began to abuse it.

How is the use of AI being abused in schools?

It started with kids using it to do things like research for them instead of doing it themselves. Then, the kids quickly realized that it could do their work for them, and they would use it when they were struggling with an assignment. Over time, they started using it more and more until they began using it for almost every assignment. By the time they realize they are overusing it, it’s almost like they can’t do an assignment without it. It can also shorten the attention span they have when it comes to doing their work because they would rather have AI do it than spend a little bit of their time working on it.

The number of kids using AI in schools

These days, the number of kids using AI in schools grows even more as AI becomes more advanced. About half of all high school students use AI to do things like brainstorm ideas, edit assignments, research, or find sources. According to the National College Board Association, about 79% of students were using AI tools for school work in January of 2025, and by May, the percentage increased to around 84%.

Academic concerns 

Oftentimes, when kids use AI very often, they start to use it to do the whole assignment for them instead of just using it to help. This causes a lot of plagiarism issues when it comes to teachers actually grading the assignments. This also defeats the purpose of the assignment in the first place because it stops the kids from learning since they aren’t the ones completing the assignment. 

AI’s negative impact on kids in schools

When kids abuse the use of AI in schools, it tends to become a repeating thing, and when it gets to that point, kids start to rely on it to do their work for them, and they become a lot less academically independent. It also stops kids from developing skills that will be needed later on in their lives, like critical thinking and creativity. It also reduces their social skills because instead of asking for help or asking someone to explain something to them, they use AI. They usually don’t learn anything because AI isn’t always accurate, and they don’t practice their social skills, which will be used in their future. These things can cause a very big negative impact on their future because once they get out of school, they will be missing a lot of skills that are almost always required in real-life situations that they will face in their future.