This is your brain on bots: AI interaction may hurt students more than it helps

More kids see AI as a friend or romantic interest, but few teachers know how to deal with the fallout, study finds

Today's students are using AI for everything from tutoring to therapy to romance. A new study warns the tech may be dulling kids' social skills quietly, like booze on the brain.

A survey of teachers, parents, and students by the Center for Democracy and Technology, a nonprofit focusing on digital rights and responsible technology deployment, found that almost all teachers and students use AI with 85 percent and 86 percent reporting that they've relied on bots in the last year, respectively.

The popularity of chatbots is having a number of unintended consequences, CDT noted, including a rise in data breaches, sexual harassment and bullying enabled by AI, AI failures, and - perhaps most worrying - "troubling interactions between students and technology."

Remarkably, only half of students say they use AI for schoolwork, while even more report personal use (73 percent).

Those non-academic uses of AI raise more alarms, as 42 percent of students said they or someone they know has used AI for mental health support, companionship, or a way to "escape from real life." Nearly a fifth of students (19 percent) said they or someone they know has even formed a romantic relationship with an AI chatbot. 

Prior research and experts warn that spending too much time with AI bots can have a negative effect on in-real-life (IRL) social skills - an outcome which may be more severe for young, developing minds. Teachers who responded to CDT's research appear to agree, as 71 percent said that they're worried AI weakens key academic skills such as writing and critical thinking. Again, that's been shown to be the case in a study from MIT, which found that students using AI to assist in writing papers showed less brain activity and, unsurprisingly, worse recall of their written work. 

Half of the students surveyed said that they thought using AI in class made them feel less connected to their teachers. In other words, kids can see that AI is having negative effects on them, too.

"Educators and students alike see AI playing a role in the classroom and that they are simultaneously experiencing unintended consequences related to the use of this technology," CDT president and CEO Alexandra Reeve Givens said of the findings. "The potential benefits of AI in the classroom cannot distract us from the core mission of schools — ensuring every student reaches their full potential."

Teachers don't know what to do about AI harms

Informed by its study, CDT sent a letter to US Education Secretary and pro-wrestling magnate Linda McMahon, urging the department to embed its July "Principles for Responsible Use" in K–12 efforts and programs, steps the group says aren't fully in place. 

CDT explained in the letter that the Trump administration's executive-order-driven push to get AI into schools hasn't come with appropriate training for teachers, however. While almost half of teachers and students said they received some form of training on how to use AI in class, and nine out of ten said they found that information useful, only 11 percent of teachers said that their training covered how to respond if they suspect a student's use of AI is harming their well-being, for example, hurting self-esteem or encouraging risky behavior.

"These and other results from our research demonstrate the importance of addressing the risks that can arise from the widespread use of AI in schools," the letter, signed by CDT and nine other education- or tech-related groups, argued.  

"The Department and the Administration more broadly have already recognized that doing so should be a priority," the letter continued. Specifics haven't been enacted, though. "Embedding the Department's Principles for Responsible Use into these commitments is critical to realizing the benefits of AI use in K-12 schools while minimizing harms to students." ®