Why should we as parents be cautious about our children using AI in schools?
Since LLMs (Large Language Models) exploded in popularity in 2023, “AI” has become a multi-billion dollar industry, making up most of the stock market growth in 2025, despite doubts about its usefulness.
AI companies like SchoolAI have secured millions in funding and are aggressively targeting teachers and schools in North America. As of 2025, around 80% of educators say they use AI in the classroom in some form.
The hype around AI, and millions of dollars in advertising mean that the negative effects of AI on children have been ignored.
AI harms learning
AI-use is correlated with worse learning outcomes4 5, poorer critical thinking6, and makes users unable to accurately judge their own performance7.
Students that use AI perform worse than those that never used it8, once the AI crutch is taken away. AI chatbots agree with the user even if the user is factually incorrect.9
The majority of students use it to solve problems for them, rather than learn from it10.
AI harms children’s mental health
By using chat-bots in the classroom, children begin to form social bonds with technology, rather than each other and their teachers.
By the time they are teens, most are regular users11, using it for advice11 despite it being less satisfying.
Chat-bots have encouraged children to commit suicide12 and talked to young children about sexual topics13.
In adults “chat-bot psychosis”14, caused by prolonged interaction with chat-bots, has affected many15 and has prompted a class-action lawsuit16.
