Pros and Cons of AI in the Future of Education

Artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to have a transformative impact on all levels of education. The rapid adoption of AI will bring forth situations in which educators are able to harness its power for the benefit of themselves and their students.
 
Conversely, there also will be significant challenges and risks associated with the ubiquity of AI. With the transformation already underway, we will look at the pros and cons of AI in education.

The Global Focus on AI in Education

Organizations of all sizes are addressing the issue of artificial intelligence in education, shining a light on a powerful tool that can be deliver positive benefits when used ethically and for the greater good.
 
The National Education Association (NEA) Task Force on Artificial Intelligence in Education was created by NEA President Becky Pringle to investigate the current and future roles of AI in from Pre-K to post-secondary education. The findings of the 7-month long investigation were released on June 26, 2024. “Recognizing the seismic potential of this technology led the Task Force to believe that, like the internet, access to safe and effective AI-enhanced technology should be viewed much like a modern-day utility and made available (equitably) to every student of every economic status, whether they are Native or newcomer; Black, brown, or White; LGBTQ+; or disabled.”
 
The United Nations (UN) High-Level Panel on the Teaching Profession states: “Technology is a transformative force in education. The digital revolution and artificial intelligence must be pedagogically harnessed by [educators] and integrated through active and human-centered teaching and learning methods and practices.”
 
Similar to the NEA and UN, the National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI) understands the critical importance of ensuring that artificial intelligence in education is used in a beneficial manner. As such, we’ve put together this content to provide educators with an introduction to the benefits and drawbacks of using AI in education.  


 

An Artificial Intelligence Primer

Before diving into the pros and cons of artificial intelligence, we need to define the various types of AI that currently exist. In addition, we need to be alert as new models of AI are developed and woven into the tapestry of our daily lives and the education landscape.
 
“AI represents a branch of computer science that aims to create machines capable of performing tasks that typically require human intelligence. These tasks include learning from experience (machine learning), understanding natural language, recognizing patterns, solving problems and making decisions.,” according to University of Illinois Chicago.
 
AI systems can identify patterns, understand natural language, generate content, create predictions, give recommendations, make decisions, solve problems and adapt to new information. The explosion of generative AI has brought artificial intelligence to the forefront and into our everyday lexicon. Yet, artificial intelligence has already been a part of our daily lives longer than many of us realize, through the use of reactive and predictive AI. Here are a few examples:

• Every time you ask Siri or Alexa to find an answer or play your music, AI is in the background.

• Whenever you scroll through social media, AI is at work serving up relevant content.

• When a family member is shopping online for your birthday gift, if you start seeing ads for those products on your devices, AI is responsible.

• If your email provider does a good job sorting out spam, potential spam and legitimate messages, you can thank AI for that.

 
While this seems simple on the surface, the complexity goes much deeper and holds much greater potential – especially for educators. AI tools that exist today typically function in one of three ways:

• Reactive AI tools respond to specific inputs or situations without learning from past experiences. Examples include AI assistants – such as Alexa and Siri – or household tools like Roomba vacuums.

• Predictive AI tools analyze historical data and experiences to predict future events or behaviors, such as when Amazon or Netflix shows you suggested items.

• Generative AI tools – such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Stable Diffusion – generate novel text, images, videos or other content based on existing data patterns and structures.
   

12 Key Pros and Cons of AI in Education

As artificial intelligence continues to gain ground and acceptance in an increasing number of fields, it’s important to recognize that many parents and educators have legitimate concerns about AI’s impact on students and quality of their education.
 
Some of the most common pros and cons of AI in education are shown below. Following the list, we take a closer look at the significant “pros” of personalized learning, before delving into the potential for cheating on the “cons” side of artificial intelligence.
 
Pros

• Personalized learning

• Real-time feedback

• Potential cost savings (staffing)

• Accessibility improvements

• Efficiency and automated processes

• Analysis of student performance

 
Cons

• Potential cheating

• Bias and errors

• Technical issues

• Job displacement

• Privacy concerns

• Costs of implementation
   

AI in Education Pro: Personalized Learning

As the teacher shortage rages on and many remaining teachers are burned out, predictive AI holds the keys to compelling tools that can augment the hard work of educators. One of the most promising opportunities is personalized learning using AI-powered education platforms that can detect the student’s current knowledge level, learning style and optimal pace so the system can adapt to the student’s unique needs.
 
Providing real-time feedback, along with technology that serves up personalized educational content, creates a very rich one-to-one learning experience for students. Using AI in this way supports immediate correction and learning, rather than waiting for assignments to be graded later. Recognizing their weak spots more quickly – and working on them with corresponding exercises – provides timely continuity in the student learning process.
 
Personalized learning can be particularly beneficial for students who may need an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) but haven’t been identified as needing one. It could also support students that may not need an IEP but have unnoticed learning gaps or those who are facing new education hurdles due to medical or social situations. One example is a student that has long-lasting, but not obvious, effects from a concussion that hinders their ability to absorb and comprehend lectures. Shifting to another approach that addresses the identified cognitive gaps or meets extra needs can provide immense value to students.
 
Although AI-driven personalized training benefits educators who have overwhelming responsibilities, the downside is that it could potentially lead to fewer teachers in the classroom. With most public schools operating on shoestring budgets and our nation’s existing teacher shortage, there is a risk that some financial decision-makers could view AI tools as a cost-cutting measure, reducing investments into finding and hiring the next generation of teachers.
 
In addition, assuming that AI-driven training for teachers is sufficient can be a mistake. Technology-backed training can be a fantastic resource to augment high-quality, hands-on professional development – but it shouldn’t be a replacement for human-to-human PD. In today’s environment of low morale among overworked and underappreciated teachers, personal connections with peers and leaders are an essential aspect of professional development offerings.
 
While immediate feedback and tailored lessons provide students with tangible assignments to address the subject areas where they need help, creating a love for learning can’t be accomplished in the vacuum of technology serving up tasks and training. The compassion, empathy, wisdom and insight that educators provide to students can never be replaced. As role models and cheerleaders for young minds, teachers fill a vital role in providing academic encouragement, as well as modeling social-emotional learning (SEL) that is so desperately needed among young people today. We cannot overstate the importance of teacher-student-peer relationships, which can get overlooked when too much emphasis is placed on technology-driven learning.


 

AI in Education Con: Potential Cheating

With all the talk in the media about AI-generated fake images, videos and content, it’s clear that generative AI poses one of the biggest threats to creativity and critical thinking skills. It’s also clear that generative AI seems to be the greatest concern for many people, especially teachers who fear this may open the door to increased cheating.
 
To get the data on how many students are using generative AI, we went straight to one of their sources. ChatGPT itself. Here’s how ChatGPT responded to our prompt:
 
“The percentage of students using AI to write papers can vary widely depending on the survey or study in question, the demographic of students surveyed and the region. However, recent studies and surveys have indicated an increasing trend in the use of AI tools for academic purposes. For example, a survey conducted by Intelligent.com in early 2023 reported that around 30% of college students admitted to using AI tools like ChatGPT to write assignments and papers. Another survey by Study.com in 2022 found that about 40% of students had used AI to help with their homework or assignments.”
 
As you can see, ChatGPT searched, gathered and delivered an answer complete with referenced sources. Yet, the statistics that the tool included are from commercial websites instead of being pulled from academic or institutional sources. Reading between the lines, you can also recognize that the generative AI tool didn’t dig very deep or look beyond the surface of the information shared in the response. In addition, if you read the previous paragraph more closely, you’ll notice that the “voice” doesn’t align with the rest of this blog post.
 
ChatGPT (or other generative AI tools) can be used as a good starting point for students, teachers and administrators. It can provide a general overview when learning a new subject, offer fresh perspectives on a topic you think you already know a lot about and include source suggestions for needed data.
 
While the temptation to cheat is always going to be one of the downsides of generative AI in education, the reality is that there will always be students that cheat and those who don’t. High school senior, Lakshya Jain, said he has observed cheating in school using AI, but believes that generative AI should not necessarily be blamed for this.
 
He explains that certain students “would’ve cheated anyway without ChatGPT. You have all these resources online, so it’s not that ChatGPT is making cheating worse, it’s just making it easier.” Jain, who attended King Philip Regional High School in Wrentham, Massachusetts, was part of a 2023 panel that discussed AI in K-12 education during its “Experimenting With AI In The Classroom” webinar presented by Harvard Ed School.
 
Another panelist, Dora Demszky, an assistant professor in education data science at the Stanford Graduate School of Education, believes that generative AI is not adequately able to consider the perspectives of students with disabilities or minority students, which can exacerbate learning inequities.
 
Another positive aspect of Generative AI is that it also can be a timesaver for teachers. For example, a busy teacher could use a ChatGPT or Gemini prompt to create a first draft of an email, a memo about proper attire for a field trip, a description for a report about a historical event or other tasks that take energy away from building relationships and providing extra support to students who need it.
 
AI-powered systems can also streamline the grading process and identify classroom trends that could inform teachers on how to optimize their time in the classroom. It can also give educators more flexibility when they’re not at school. Instead of grading papers or creating lesson resources late into the night, teachers could actually gain some much-needed self-care time so they can face the next day with the strength and energy they – and their students – deserve.
 

The Four Focuses of AI

After reviewing the underlying approaches to Reactive AI (which responds to inputs), Predictive AI (which analyzes data) and Generative AI (which creates content), we are wrapping up this look at the pros and cons of AI in education by sharing four general categories of artificial intelligence utilization.
 
A report from Education International identified the three most common approaches to integrating AI into the education realm and introduced a fourth emerging use:

1. Student-Focused AI includes automatic writing evaluation systems, adaptive tutoring systems, chatbots and other systems that benefit augment traditional learning.

2. Teacher-Focused AI tools provide support to teachers through assessment assistance, lesson planning tools and resource curation systems.

3. Institution-Focused AI addresses school administration and operations, with an emphasis on identifying at-risk students, scheduling activities and scanning for safety issues.

4. System-Focused AI is starting to come into play with some states using AI to determine school funding or score state assessments.

 
We are only beginning to see glimpses of the impact that artificial intelligence will have in the classroom. But with proper oversight and judicious use of this powerful resource, we can deliver a more personalized education to students and a healthier work-life balance to those teachers who work tirelessly every day.