Schools' Embrace of AI Connected to Increased Risks to Students

Graphic for CDT report, entitled “Hand in Hand: Schools’ Embrace of AI Connected to Increased Risks to Students.” Illustration of a large green “digital” hand holding a pencil, surrounded by classroom items like a beaker, protractor, graphs, and papers.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has continued to alter the educational experiences of teachers, students, and parents during the 2024-25 school year. The frequency and variety of AI uses continues to grow; at the same time, the increased use of AI in educational settings is correlated with heightened risks to students. This report details the current status of AI use in schools along with four emerging risks associated with this technology, all of which increase the more that a school uses AI:

• Data breaches or ransomware attacks;
• Tech-enabled sexual harassment and bullying;
• AI systems that do not work as intended; and
• Troubling interactions between students and technology. 

Additional topics covered in this report include AI literacy, deepfake non-consensual intimate imagery, student activity monitoring, privacy issues related to transgender and immigrant students, and more.

Identifying the concrete risks that accompany the use of AI in schools enables education leaders, policymakers, and communities to mount prevention and response efforts so that the positive uses of AI are not overshadowed by harm to students.

Read the full report.

Explore the slide deck on the research findings.

Read the coalition letter to the U.S. Secretary of Education.

Read the press release.