On a recent Future of Life Institute podcast, economist Daniel Susskind, author of the bestselling book The Future of Professions, talked about how traditional education systems have a responsibility to prepare their students for a future tethered to evolving AI technology.
“I think the most important thing is that we teach people how to use AI effectively. I think we need to be spending, something like, a third of our time in school and university learning how to use AI effectively.”
Daniel, importantly, notes that this does not mean teaching people how to use AI to write something of quality for them. Instead, we should be learning the history of this technology, the way in which we need to think about problems so that we can use it effectively, its limits, the ethical and moral issues that come with it, and so on.
In our 2024 Schooling in America survey, we asked parents about similar ideas. Our survey included questions that asked parents whether their child’s school uses AI in any capacity, whether they’d support their child’s school in doing so, and whether schools should teach students how to use AI responsibly.
As it turns out, parents agree with Daniel’s assertion. Roughly two-thirds of parents (65%) agreed that schools should teach students how to use AI responsibly, among which 31% of parents said they “strongly” agree with the idea. Private school parents are especially supportive of schools teaching students to use AI responsibly, at 79%.
Parent desire for teaching about responsible AI use is one signal, but more context is needed. We included a split sample question to gauge if AI programs are currently being used in their children’s classes, and, generally, whether parents support AI programs being used in their children's classes. In a split sample question, half of the sample randomly receives the first question, while the other half receives the second question.
According to the survey, only 22% of parents reported that AI programs are currently being used in their children’s classes. Notably, 35% of parents definitively said that AI programs are not used in their children’s classes, while a substantial 42% responded that they were unsure or didn’t know.
There is a stark difference in responses from private school and public school parents.
Nearly half of private school parents (48%) said that AI programs are a part of their children's classes. About 40% of private school parents said that AI programs are not currently being used in the classroom, while only 12% said they are unsure or don’t know. Only 19% of public school parents said that AI programs are a part of their children's classes, 34% said that AI is not a part of the classroom, and a whopping 46% responded unsure or don’t know.
As seen in the visualization above, the support for the use of AI in the classroom is much higher than the reported usage of AI. More than half of parents (52%) signaled support for the use of AI programs in their children’s classes. Support from private school parents (61%) and public school parents (50%) is much closer compared to the reported use of such technology, however.
What is being done to address the gap between reported use of AI in classrooms and parents’ desire for use of AI in classrooms? Given the rapid pace at which AI technology is evolving, it feels unavoidable that an all-hands-on-deck approach is necessary here. A collaborative effort from state DOEs, school districts, principals/administrators, all the way down to teachers will be required.
Unfortunately, the progress on this front appears dim. As of May 2025, only 20 state departments of education have issued official AI guidance for K-12 public schools in their states. Not only that, but survey data of K-12 teachers suggests considerable skepticism towards teaching about AI. In a fall 2023 Pew Research survey of public school teachers, 25% said that there is more harm than benefit when it comes to the use of AI tools in K-12 education, while 35% responded that they were unsure.
In a fall 2023 EdChoice survey of K-12 teachers, teachers were slightly more likely to oppose (42%) using ChatGPT or other AI programs as a learning tool than they were to support it (40%).
Now, the survey data of teachers from both Pew and EdChoice is nearly two years old at this point. Given the progression of AI technology in that span, it is entirely plausible that teachers have changed their tune or have come around to the potential benefits of exposing their students to AI technology that is going to have an undoubtedly profound effect on their future.
Even if teachers are still sour on using AI as a learning tool, the importance of teaching students about the technology and how to use it will only continue to grow. Kids are taught how to handle or navigate all sorts of potential obstacles they could face in the future. Teachers should be wary of letting their feelings towards, or experiences with, AI cloud their assessment of how important AI will be for their students’ future.
If your state department of education, school district, or school is expressing indifference or, even worse, ignorance towards the possibility of employing AI technology in your child’s education then it is past time to sound the alarm. More and more states are embracing educational freedom for families. Parents and advocates have fought long and hard to provide families access to choice in the name of safety, personalized learning, or simply increasing the chance of obtaining a quality education for all students. Preparation for a future interwoven with AI should be included in the foundation of what today’s families and students receive from K-12 education.
In the podcast, Daniel had this to say about teaching effective AI use in schools -- “It’s not something we can just tack on to the existing curriculum. It needs to be fundamental, and it needs to be substantial.”
The seriousness towards AI technology right now in K-12 education feels neither fundamental nor substantial. Parents appear to be seeing that firsthand.