The rise of AI is fast and far-reaching. The danger it poses is creating a generation of passive learners who lose the ability to engage, question, and think for themselves.
The widespread accessibility of AI in education is seismic, changing how children learn and, in many cases, shaping how they grow into adulthood. Like most things, there are benefits to be gained and risks to guard against too.
It’s important to note that “AI in education” covers a wide spectrum. Some tools work quietly in the background - like adaptive learning platforms that personalise content or track student progress. Others, like large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, Google’s AI Mode, or Claude, are far more visible and interactive - generating essays, solving problems, and simulating human thought. Each type of AI brings different implications, and it is the generative tools, the ones that seem to do the thinking for us, that pose the greatest risk to independent learning.
Educators and students can embrace AI innovations and time-saving opportunities while keeping it in its place. A trusted co-pilot status, not a dominating captain. One that supports, not supplants, children’s individualism and ability to think deeply.
Reframing the question
Educators will need to skilfully shift their lessons away from pure information delivery and instead throw a spotlight on creativity and the development of critical thinking skills.
Adam Caller, Founder and CEO of Tutors International, provides a clear example of how teaching will need to adapt in the face of AI:
“AI will undeniably change the way children are taught. No longer should the questions asked require a simple fact-based answer, AI will provide the answers to these. Questions will need to be reframed to engage a child’s imagination.
“To illustrate – there will be no point asking when the Boer War took place or even what the impact was. Instead, the question will need reframing: ‘What do you think was going through the lead general’s mind at the start of the Boer War?’
“The child can use AI to learn the facts about the Boer War but they will need to apply their emotional intelligence, background research and some long, hard thinking before answering a question framed this way. This style of creative teaching will ensure a student relies on their own cognitive resources, building confidence and growing their ability to think independently while successfully using AI as a co-pilot.”
The art of adaptive teaching
Whether a classroom teacher or private tutor, educators must ensure a child receives balance during their education, utilising the advantages of AI whilst developing their uniquely human skills. Curriculums may remain the same, but teachers who can flex and change the way they deliver their lessons will shine.
Homework is one area where teachers can exert real influence. It presents an opportunity to set more complex tasks and projects that can’t be answered by feeding a question into ChatGPT. Homework should encourage imaginative thinking, longer-form answers and emotional engagement – just like the Boer War example.
One-to-one private tutors, in particular, are well placed to offer flexible, personalised mentorship. Working closely with a single student allows for rich, reciprocal dialogue, something that’s more difficult to achieve in a larger classroom setting. Many tutors draw on inquiry-based pedagogical approaches – such as the Socratic method, Carl Rogers’ humanistic theory, dialogic teaching and reflective practices.
These methods are especially effective in helping students to engage critically with what they’re learning. Whether that’s interpreting a historical source, debating an idea, or questioning the output of an AI tool. It’s about guiding the child to think more deeply and make connections – and to develop the confidence to ask, “Is this true? What’s missing? What do I think?”
The Socratic method, for example, has been used by expert tutors for centuries. Our tutors use it every day: tailoring their questions to suit each student, encouraging intellectual curiosity, and prioritising long-term mastery over quick wins. (Watch Joanna Dunckley explain). These are the very skills all teachers will need to adopt – and all children must learn – as we face a dominance of AI tools.
Every parent has a view on their child’s education
The success of an expert tutor lies in their ability to adapt: to a child’s personality, the requirements of the curriculum, and the wishes of the parents.
Every family has a different view on how much AI should be part of their child’s education. Parents’ wishes guide a tutor in their style of study and what exposure to AI is allowed within lesson time. Some want to keep it to a minimum while others are keen to fully embrace it.
What matters most is that tutors and parents have the conversation. Agreements are made and honoured. What are the co-pilot rules and who gets to decide when to use them?
AI is in the development fast lane
AI is developing rapidly and already encompasses a wide array of tools and platforms. Some are designed for quick, factual responses, such as Ask AI and MagicHow, while others serve as deeper research platforms such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity. Then there are task-specific tools such as Edubrain, developed specifically to help with homework and revision.
Each tool serves a different function, and can blur the lines between helpful assistant and automated problem-solver. That’s why children need more than just access to these tools – they need guidance on how, when, and why to use them.
Such is the pace of development that OpenAI has already released a version of ChatGPT aimed at university students, providing guided learning over direct answers. This study application adopts the Socratic method - guiding students through probing questions to promote critical thinking and deeper understanding.
It isn’t as ‘rosy’ as it sounds – yet! This tool still has flaws. It has been compared to a tutor that has read every single book, website and article available on every subject, including all the disinformation. Students, therefore, need to be highly skilled at questioning the information placed at their fingertips. They need to learn to successfully distinguish genuine information from misinformation.
A good tutor shapes learning accordingly, making sure the child builds the skills they’ll need: digital fluency, critical thinking, and knowing when to trust an AI tool and when to challenge it.
The high stakes of doing nothing
There’s much at stake if we don’t adapt education into a collaborative relationship with AI.
Fears are that children could become high consumers of AI content, losing their uniquely human talents – especially their ability to think for themselves – and risking becoming creatively underdeveloped.
The success of AI itself is reliant on humans continuing to feed it with emotional intelligence, personal insights, ideas and real research. AI is only as good as the information it receives. It is based on what already exists, and without a regular feed of fresh thinking and new ideas AI will become stale and outdated.
By then, we may already have lost the ability to think for ourselves and become lazy and reliant on AI – leaving us achieving nothing but chasing our own tails whilst continually diluting the information pool.
