Is AI Making Your Kids Dumber? Over Half Of Teachers Surveyed Say It May Be

Most teachers are concerned about their students’ education amid the looming artificial intelligence revolution, a recent survey shows.

Fifty-four percent of K-12 teachers say AI is making it harder for their students to learn critical thinking skills, IPSOS reported Friday. NPR/IPSOS surveyed a representative sample of teachers between April 27 and May 5.

Forty percent of teachers said AI has had a negative effect on education, whereas only 9% said it’s been positive, according to the survey. Additionally, 57% of teachers said AI is making it harder to assess their students’ knowledge level, and 59% said AI is tarnishing trust between them and their students.

Despite 78% of surveyed teachers saying they believe students should be taught how to responsibly use AI, over half (52%) said their school has not offered clear guidance on AI.

However, 69% said AI has made them more efficient, according to IPSOS.

Stanford’s Educational Opportunity Project estimated that reading scores declined in 83% of school districts where data was available in 2025 compared to 2015, The New York Times reported on May 13. Math scores also reportedly declined in 70% of school districts over that same time period.

Anthropic, Microsoft, and OpenAI gave millions of dollars to teachers unions to promote AI training, the Associated Press reported last October.

Big Tech will likely spend $5.3 trillion on AI in fiscal years 2025 through 2030, Goldman Sachs projected on June 3.