by Julius Lindner ‘26 and Piotr Popiel-Machnicki ‘26

Even though MCPS banned most AI tools from the school-issued Chromebooks to stop students from cheating with those tools, the frequency of students using AI is only increasing. Students continue to use it for assignments and studying, while teachers use it to plan lessons and generate ideas. Teachers now recognize and perhaps reluctantly accept that almost every student uses AI in one way or another. That raises the question of how it affects students’ learning and how MCPS and its teachers will respond and adapt.

“The truth is, AI developed so quickly that schools are still trying to catch up,” said English teacher Elizabeth Kominski. “We’re now responsible for preparing students for a world where AI will be a big part of everyday life—and that includes teaching new skills like digital literacy and ethical tech use. But we’re still figuring out the best ways to do that. In many ways, it feels like we’re building the plane while flying it. It’s a challenge, but also an opportunity.”

Social studies teacher Matt Schneider believes nearly every student has used AI in one or more of their classes. “I hope that the positives will outweigh the negatives, but it is too early to tell,” said Schneider. “I hope that as AI improves, we find ways to use it as a powerful learning tool. However, we need better screening mechanisms for cheating and misuse of AI as well.” Schneider and other teachers are navigating how to show students the beneficial and proper uses of AI while still monitoring for cheating.

Nevertheless, teachers have to deal with the current situation. One way to is to use AI detectors, which claim to catch text written by AI. “I typically check more than one detector at a time, and if two or three are showing plagiarism, I trust that,” said English teacher Christopher Goodrich.

Without reliable detection tools, teachers are left with no way of ultimately confirming AI usage and have to trust the students. But students seem to use AI more than they should. “I think close to all of them use it,” said social studies teacher Ruby Whisman.

Several teachers expressed their concerns about the visible decline of critical thinking and human-like curiosity. “There’s no searching anymore,” said Whisman. “You just ask, and it gives you the answer.” Without real learning at school, students are missing out on the most valuable moments of education: developing ideas, making mistakes, and building resilience.

“If students rely on it too heavily, they risk missing out on important skills like how to write well, think critically, or solve problems on their own,” added Kominski.

Science teacher Michael Miehl recalled trying to generate a quiz using AI but found that it required so much editing that it barely saved any time. “It became too much of a chore … I just as soon made the quiz from scratch.”

Math teacher Heather Baxter tested using AI for hard math problems, but realized that it started just spitting out mistakes. “I feel like it reaches a certain level,” she said about AI for high-level math. “It’s just like a person reaching a certain level with their capability.” This risk of encountering misinformation or generic, low-quality answers only strengthens the argument that AI should only be a support and not a replacement, especially for learning.

The question is, what can be done? Completely banning AI may not be realistic or even helpful. Already, many teachers are encouraging their students to work with AI for brainstorming, summarizing, or creating outlines. Whisman described asking her history students to generate alternative history images using AI, which turned out to be “extremely exciting” and a great opportunity to deepen involvement with the material.

In the long run, ChatGPT is here to stay. So, the future of education will not be AI-free, but if schools adapt and teach students to use it wisely, it could make learning smarter, not lazier.