NPR/Ipsos Poll: Most K-12 Teachers Say AI Will Reshape Education More Than Internet Did, With Mixed Views on Use and Impact

Nearly three-quarters of K-12 teachers believe artificial intelligence will have larger effects on education than the internet or computers, according to a new NPR/Ipsos poll of 545 respondents. A little more than half of teachers say students are not using AI in class at all, while about two in five report students using it at least once a week.

Six in ten teachers say they have used AI themselves for work tasks.

A majority of those who use AI report time savings, though 63 percent of that group say the savings amount to two hours or less per week. Michele Naber, a biology teacher at El Toro High School in Orange County, California, uses AI to generate multiple-choice questions, reducing a task that once took more than an hour to about five minutes.

Joann Purcell, a math teacher and instructional coach at Downers Grove North High School in the Chicago suburbs, has used AI to create professional development activities for colleagues but avoids it for math questions because of accuracy concerns.

Fifty-four percent of teachers say AI makes it harder for students to learn critical thinking skills, and 55 percent view it mainly as a shortcut that lets students avoid work. Nearly six in ten say AI is eroding trust between students and teachers.

About four in ten teachers report requiring more assignments to be completed by hand, and four in ten say they now require more work to be done in class.

Naber stopped offering extra credit for off-campus beach cleanups after her son demonstrated how easily AI could fabricate proof of participation. Seventy percent of teachers believe the public's perception of the profession has worsened. " Among teachers whose schools provide AI software, only 35 percent report a formal policy governing its use by teachers.