Has your kid ever used artificial intelligence to answer homework questions that their teacher used artificial intelligence to write?
It’s possible, according to a report from the Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts that found a majority of teachers in the state are using generative AI for planning or in the classroom, but also express concern that students’ use of the technology could harm their learning.
Teachers see promise in artificial intelligence
The poll, based on more than 13,000 teacher responses from across the state, found that 59% of those who responded said they use AI for teaching tasks.
Teachers were most likely to say they used AI to prepare for class – 95% of teachers surveyed said they used it for instructional planning and preparation at least a few times a year, with more than half using it at least once a week.
Venecia Whyte-Foster, a middle school English teacher in Savannah-Chatham County, said she was an early adopter of the technology.
“I embraced it immediately as it came out,” she said. “I’m like, ‘OK, this is not going away. My kids are going to use it. How do I use it in my class effectively?’”
Part of what she came up with involves personalized chatbots that turn classroom concepts into escape room-like games where students use what they’ve learned to solve puzzles and progress through levels.
“They have to ask a question directly toward the topic, and then the chatbot will give them more questions, give them information and then ask them questions, and until they’re able to answer those questions effectively, they cannot move on,” she said. “And they love those escape rooms, they love to be the first to get out of the room.”
The task the polled teachers were most hesitant to use AI for was grading student work, with 62% saying they never do that.
Of the teachers who use AI, nearly 90% said it had a positive impact on their classrooms, with majorities saying the technology helped save time, improve their lesson materials and increase student participation.
Teachers who do not use AI told state analysts they believe it invites students to become reliant on the technology, potentially damaging their critical thinking skills and encouraging them to cheat or become lazy. Teachers also expressed concerns about AI accuracy, data privacy and other ethical concerns.
University of Georgia associate professor Xiaoming Zhai directs the university’s AI4STEM Education Center, which focuses on using AI to advance STEM education.
Zhai said he understands teachers who don’t trust AI, but he still encourages them to keep an open mind.
“Regardless of whether they’re using AI in their own profession, their students in the future will be using AI in their career,” he said. “So if they’re not able to use AI, how can they expect them to educate the future workforce to be able to use AI responsibly and ethically?”
Zhai said teaching future educators how to effectively use AI will help them guide students toward the proper use.
“I think the key part is how can we guide a teacher to be responsible and ethically using AI so they can foresee any potential risk and challenge that the students might be facing when using the AI?” he said.
Middle- and high-schoolers are also embracing AI, to teachers’ chagrin
Elementary school teachers told auditors that their students were the least likely to use AI to complete their work, but adoption of AI for school use grows as students age. A majority of high school teachers report their students using AI on assignments at least half of the time.
Teachers whose students used AI were more likely to say that the technology had a negative impact on their learning, with a majority of middle and high school teachers reporting that AI had a very negative or somewhat negative impact on their students’ learning.
More than half of the teachers surveyed said they required in-class work or writing as a means of managing student AI use. Half of the respondents said they made an effort to clearly define AI abuse and what constitutes cheating, and 43% said they use software or apps to check for AI use in student assignments.
Whyte-Foster said she teaches about AI hallucinations — the word for when AI spits out a confident sounding but totally fabricated response — and why it’s important to double check everything.
“We discuss why it’s important that we understand that it is not something that we just go through, but that we have to use our minds, that we have to put things into place to make sure we are thinking for ourselves, that it’s giving us information so that we can use it in our thinking, as a part of our brainstorming,” she said.
Despite that, Whyte-Foster said students sometimes try to pass along AI-generated work as their own. She said it’s usually easy to spot since she is familiar with her students’ writing abilities from their in-class work. When she gets an AI-produced assignment, she has a talk with the student about academic integrity and offers the chance to re-do the work for a reduced grade.
“They’ll tell you, yes, they’d prefer a 70 to a zero,” she said. “But if they get the 100 or the 90, I’ll put it there, and then put the minus 30 there and just say, ‘Hey, look at this, you did it, you could have done it before. The only reason you have a 70 is because you didn’t follow the guideline in the first place. Next time, choose the right way.’”
Guidance and training
About two-thirds of teachers reported that they had received guidance on AI use, while 70% reported that they had received training and 27% reported that they received neither training nor guidance.
Auditors noted that responses were inconsistent within districts, with a portion of teachers reporting they had received training or guidance and others reporting they had not. Auditors suggest that could indicate teachers were unaware of district resources or that guidance was provided to some teachers but not others. Teachers in districts with high poverty levels were more likely to say they had not received guidance or training.
The use of AI in K-12 education is not yet addressed in federal or state law, but the Georgia Department of Education and the Georgia Professional Standards Commission, the agency responsible for licensing teachers, have developed guidance.
In January 2025, the state Department of Education appointed an AI ethics and impact officer and released guidance outlining best practices. In a statement, State School Superintendent Richard Woods said AI use should come with “serious consideration of the ethical, instructional, and privacy implications.”
“What I never want to see is AI being used to replace the skill and expertise of our teachers, or our students’ ability to develop critical thinking skills,” said Woods, a Republican who is running for re-election in November. “AI should always be a tool, never a replacement.”
This story was provided by WABE media partner the Georgia Recorder.
