Evidence · AI and learning
Should children learn to use AI in school?
What the research shows about AI and learning, and what other countries teach children about AI from a young age.
The short answer
Most American teens already use AI chatbots for schoolwork. The research shows that the design of the tool decides what children learn. A chatbot that hands out answers can weaken learning. A tutor that makes students do the thinking can strengthen it. China, Estonia, Singapore and Australia now teach AI in school on purpose, with clear rules. Children need AI literacy built on a strong base of knowledge, so they can check what the machine tells them.
Most teens already use AI for school
In a Pew Research Center survey from fall 2025, 54% of U.S. teens said they have used AI chatbots for help with schoolwork. One in ten said chatbots help with all or most of their schoolwork. And 59% said cheating with AI happens regularly at their school. The question for families is no longer whether children use AI. The question is whether anyone teaches them to use it well.
The design of the tool decides whether children learn
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania gave nearly 1,000 high school math students access to GPT-4 in a field experiment. Students with a plain chatbot did better during practice. When the researchers took the chatbot away, those students scored 17% lower than students who never had it. A second tutor gave hints instead of answers, and it largely prevented that loss. The authors found that students used the plain chatbot as a crutch.
At Harvard, physics instructors built an AI tutor on proven teaching methods. In a randomized trial with 194 students, the tutor produced more than twice the learning gains of an active-learning class, in less time. The researchers designed the tutor to guide students through each step, not to think for them.
A small study at the MIT Media Lab tracked brain activity while 54 young adults wrote essays. Writers who used ChatGPT showed the weakest brain connectivity, and writers with no tools showed the strongest. The study is small and has not finished peer review. It points the same way as the larger trials: children build skill only when they do the thinking themselves.
What other countries teach children
China. In 2025 China's Ministry of Education issued national guidelines for AI education in primary and secondary schools, with separate rules for how students may use generative AI. Beijing went further. Since fall 2025, Beijing schools give at least eight class hours of AI instruction each school year.
Estonia. In September 2025 Estonia launched AI Leap, a national program that gives high school students and teachers AI learning tools and training. In its first year, it reached about 20,000 students in 154 of the country's 156 upper secondary schools. The program trains teachers first.
Singapore. Singapore's Ministry of Education wants students to learn about AI, learn to use AI, learn with AI and learn beyond AI. Students complete a basic AI literacy module on how AI works, its benefits and its risks.
Australia. In 2023 all of Australia's education ministers approved a national framework for generative AI in schools. Its six principles include privacy and safety, and the ministers review it every year.
What the United States is doing
In April 2025, Executive Order 14277 made AI literacy a national policy goal. The order calls for the appropriate use of AI in schools, AI training for teachers and early exposure to AI concepts. It also created a White House task force on AI education and a Presidential AI Challenge for students. Most day-to-day rules still come from states and school districts.
Privacy and children's data
AI chatbots keep what children type. OpenAI, for example, says ChatGPT trains on the conversations people have with it unless the user opts out. The company does not train on its business products by default, so it matters which version a school uses.
Two federal laws protect children's data. Under COPPA, online services must get a parent's consent before they collect personal information from children under 13. The Federal Trade Commission strengthened the COPPA rule in 2025, and companies had until April 22, 2026, to comply. Under FERPA, a school generally may not share personal information from a student's education records without a parent's written consent. FERPA has exceptions, and one lets schools share records with outside vendors, such as software companies, that work for the school.
Other countries put privacy first too. Australia's framework lists privacy, security and safety among its six principles, and China's 2025 guidelines call for strict safeguards for student privacy and data security.
Why knowledge comes first
A child can only check an AI answer against what the child already knows. A child with a broad base of history, literature, math and science can spot an error. A child without that base has nothing to check it against. That is why AI literacy and a strong, knowledge-rich education belong together. See our evidence page on classical, knowledge-rich education.
What Restore Childhood is doing
We report on AI and childhood on our Substack, including what other countries teach children about AI and why a ban would leave American children behind. We will update this page as new research comes out.
What you can do now
- Ask your school for its written AI policy and how it protects student data.
- Ask whether each AI tool keeps or trains on what students type, and whether parents can see or delete it.
- Ask which AI tools students use, and whether those tools give hints or answers.
- Ask your child to explain homework in their own words, out loud or on paper.
- Try an AI tool together and check its answers against a book or a trusted source.
- Ask your school to hold an AI information night for families.
Related
We update this page as new data comes out. If you see an error, please contact us.