--- title: "Artificial Intelligence: When It Helps and When It Hurts" url: https://burnaze.com/article/3f1d25b8-36ef-4fb3-a157-a6c5e52e37db source: "1851 Franchise" original_url: https://1851franchise.com/artificial-intelligence-when-it-helps-and-when-it-hurts-2724306 category: "Technology" topics: ["Technology"] published: 2023-11-17T21:16:00.000Z modified: 2026-11-01T02:07:56.584Z image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/e466fee12529359dd0a52c8786df3fd59023.jpg --- # Artificial Intelligence: When It Helps and When It Hurts **TL;DR:** Artificial intelligence can be a helpful tool in education when used appropriately, but there is a lack of formal guidance on its use, leading to confusion among students and teachers. AI can support educators in creating lesson plans and providing personalized education, but its use is not yet widespread among teachers due to limited guidance and training. *originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2023-11-17. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/artificial-intelligence-when-it-helps-and-when-it-hurts-2724306).* ## Story With artificial intelligence on the rise, more and more people are using these tools, and they are only becoming stronger. Like any tool, AI can be incredibly helpful when used appropriately and by someone who has the necessary context. In education spaces, however, there is a glaring lack of formal guidance, meaning students and teachers are likely aware of the tools but have some confusion surrounding when and how to use them. “Education needs to approach AI like a larger scale version of how we approached calculators,” said Emily Mitchell, vice president of education at Sylvan Learning. “The students need to understand when they can use AI — when it’s appropriate and when it’s allowed. And they need to remember that they still have to check their work and make sure the AI tool has given them correct information.” For students, AI tools can be incredibly helpful if they have quick questions or are looking to compile research from multiple sources in one space. This specific use can streamline the schoolwork process for a student, but generative AI is only as good as the information it has been given, so a student needs to verify the facts they find with reputable sources. This protects them from a helpful tool turning into something that might impact their understanding of a topic, or even their grades in a course. It is crucial that a student sees AI as a first step of sorts and has a very clear understanding of the additional steps they will need to take to use it appropriately. In addition to verifying the facts it provides, a student always needs to know whether they are allowed to use AI at all on a given assignment. The consequences of academic dishonesty can have permanent impacts, and avoiding accidental or intentional plagiarism requires a team effort from students and the adults in their lives. Teachers, tutors, parents and anyone else involved in the learning process should initiate conversations about AI to ensure the student understands what AI is, how it works and when they can and cannot use it. Beyond homework and research help, AI can have a big impact on students, largely through the support it can provide educators. As class sizes grow and educators become responsible for classes with a growing range of abilities, personal, intentional education is only becoming more important. AI tools can be used to create lesson plans, weave differentiation into plans and offer additional ideas for engaging activities that teachers can lead their students in for reinforcing concepts. “AI can be very powerful. We’ve experimented with it to see what it can do in terms of lesson planning, and we were pretty impressed,” said Mitchell. “In terms of teachers, I think AI is something they should be using in some capacity, even if they start small. If they find themselves pressed for time or in need of additional ideas, it’s a great starting place.” Mitchell sees great value in AI as a supporting tool for educators, but she also explained that, unfortunately, not many teachers are taking advantage of it right now. Currently, the “envelope pushing” educators are the primary ones exploring the uses of AI for the classroom, and this could be largely due to the fact that educators nationwide are left without any guidance. According to Education Week, only two states (California and Oregon) across the nation have offered specific guidance on how AI should fit into the classroom. While another 11 have guidelines in the works, this leaves nearly three-fourths of the states with no guidelines and uncertainty about when any may become widely available. Until statewide guidance is available, some districts are stepping up and working to create their own playbooks, and other groups in the education space are providing resources independent of the district or state. “AI is new, so many teachers are not receiving any formal training,” added Mitchell. “They know they should probably be using it for something, but they don’t know what. Who in the education space uses AI and how they use it will be constantly changing until the industry as a whole settles on what to do with it.” ## Entities - 1851 Franchise (publication) - California (location) - Sylvan Learning (company) - Technology (sector) - Oregon (location) - Emily Mitchell (person) - teacher training (topic) - ai in education (topic) - educational technology (topic) - EducationWeek (company) - academic integrity (topic) --- Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/artificial-intelligence-when-it-helps-and-when-it-hurts-2724306). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/3f1d25b8-36ef-4fb3-a157-a6c5e52e37db).