As artificial intelligence tools rapidly move from novelty to classroom staple, a growing body of research documents concerns among students, teachers, and parents who would benefit from them. A year-long international study suggests that the ease and availability of generative AI could be changing the way children think, learn, and interact with others. That method has proven difficult to measure and difficult to reverse.
A global experiment in the classroom
Schools around the world are deploying AI-powered chatbots and writing assistants at an unprecedented pace, but often without a shared framework for how to use them. Researchers involved in the year-long project described the development as “a large-scale experiment in children with uncertain results” and said the implementation outweighed the evidence.
The project utilized interviews, consultations, and discussion panels with 505 students, parents, teachers, educational leaders, and technology experts from 50 countries. The researchers also reviewed hundreds of previous studies that investigated the impact of AI on learning and child development. Taken together, these findings highlight how education systems are adapting in real time to technologies whose long-term effects are still unclear.
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Despite lagging guidance and safety measures, teachers’ use of AI in the classroom has jumped from 34 percent to 61 percent, according to the report. Researchers say this rapid uptake has forced schools to grapple with fundamental questions about learning, responsibility and relationships.
Offload your thoughts and lose engagement
One of the most consistent findings in this study was that students tended to “offload” their thinking to AI systems. Many participants described generative AI tools as easy, smooth, and always available. While appealing in its nature, it is also potentially harmful to active learning.
“It’s easy. You don’t have to use your brain,” one student told the researchers, summing up concerns that pervaded the study. The report found that when students rely on AI to provide answers, explanations, and assignments, they can become disinterested learners who passively accept the output rather than interrogate and internalize it.
Researchers warned that this dependence could contribute to cognitive decline over time. 65% of students surveyed expressed concern that over-reliance on AI could weaken their thinking skills. Some educators interviewed noted that students are starting to forget previously learned material and trust that AI systems will “remember” it for them.
fantasy of connection
Beyond academics, the report raised concerns about how children relate to AI on a social and emotional level. The researchers noted that generative models can create an illusion of understanding that is indistinguishable from genuine intimate relationships.
“They create an illusion of connection that is difficult to distinguish from genuine intimate relationships,” one anonymous panelist told the research team.
According to panelists, young people may be attracted to AI because it is less demanding and less judgmental. AI is the antithesis of human relationships, which require negotiation, patience, and the ability to tolerate discomfort.
Some educators and researchers have argued that this dynamic risks undermining the development of empathy and social skills. Because AI systems are often benevolent or “sycophantic,” children may not learn how to navigate disagreements, misunderstandings, and emotional complexities—experiences that are central to human relationships.
Burden on families and schools
This study also documents broader relational influences. Teachers reported that AI tools could blur the lines of responsibility in the classroom and weaken the relationship between instruction, effort, and assessment.
“What is the purpose of learning if students can actually replace what they have learned and the ability to communicate what they know with something produced externally for credit?” one teacher asked during the study.
Parents also emerged as stakeholders affected by this change. Researchers noted that some children are more comfortable sharing personal thoughts and problems with chatbots than with the adults in their lives. In extreme cases cited in news reports referenced by the study, this dynamic has been linked to severe psychological distress, including instances of suicide due to compulsive relationships with AI.
Taken together, these findings suggest that while generative AI is increasingly integrated into education systems, its presence is changing not only how students learn but also how they interact with teachers, parents, and themselves, raising questions that schools and policy makers are only beginning to face.
