From answering homework questions to writing essays and explaining difficult subjects, artificial intelligence is becoming an increasingly accessible study companion for students. But as AI finds its way into education, a bigger question is emerging: are students learning more, or simply learning how to ask a machine for the answers?
For generations, the familiar scene has been the same: a student sits at a desk surrounded by textbooks, exercise books and handwritten notes, struggling to understand a difficult assignment. Today, there is another option. A student can open a phone, type a question into an artificial intelligence tool and receive an explanation within seconds.
Need help understanding algebra? Ask AI.
Struggling with an essay introduction? Ask AI.
Want a summary of a long chapter? Ask AI.
Need ideas for a presentation? AI can provide them.
The convenience is undeniable. But so is the concern.
As artificial intelligence becomes embedded in everyday life, schools and students are facing a new educational dilemma: where does useful assistance end and dependence begin?
The debate is no longer simply about whether students use AI. For many students, access to AI tools has already become part of everyday learning. The more pressing question is whether schools can teach young people to use the technology without allowing it to replace the very thinking education is supposed to develop.
The new study companion
Artificial intelligence has changed what it means to search for information. In the past, a student struggling with a topic might turn to a textbook, ask a teacher, search the internet or discuss it with classmates. AI has added another layer to that process: an interactive tool that can respond immediately and adjust its explanation based on the student’s question.
For students who struggle with particular subjects, this can be valuable. A student may ask an AI tool to explain a scientific concept in simpler language, generate practice questions, provide examples or identify areas where they need more work.
UNESCO recognises this potential. Its work on AI in education notes that artificial intelligence can support personalised learning and improve access to educational opportunities, including for students in remote locations and learners with disabilities. But the same technology that can explain a difficult concept can also complete an assignment. That is where the problem begins.
When assistance becomes substitution
There is a significant difference between asking AI to explain a topic and asking it to write the assignment that demonstrates whether the student understands the topic. A student who asks, “Explain photosynthesis to me as if I am a beginner,” is using technology as a learning aid.
A student who says, “Write my biology assignment on photosynthesis,” and submits the response without understanding it is doing something very different. The distinction may appear obvious, but in practice it is becoming increasingly difficult for schools to police.
Artificial intelligence can produce essays, answer questions, generate computer code, summarise books and help students structure assignments. It can even imitate different writing styles. This has forced educators to reconsider a basic question: what exactly should an assignment measure when a machine can produce the answer? The challenge is important because an assignment is not only about the final answer. The process of researching, organising ideas, making mistakes, receiving feedback and trying again is part of learning.
If AI removes that process completely, students may submit better-looking work while developing weaker independent skills. UNESCO has warned that generative AI brings risks alongside its opportunities, including concerns around critical thinking, privacy, equity and the reliability of AI-generated information.
The cheating question
Perhaps the biggest concern surrounding AI in schools is academic dishonesty. Before generative AI became widely available, students already had access to websites where they could copy information. What has changed is the speed and sophistication of the assistance. AI does not simply provide a page of information. It can create an original-looking response based on a student’s instructions. That makes the old definition of cheating more complicated.
If a student asks an AI chatbot to write an essay, changes a few words and submits it, who actually wrote the essay? And if a student uses AI to brainstorm ideas, checks the information independently and then writes the final piece themselves, is that cheating? Schools are increasingly being forced to answer these questions.
Some institutions have responded by restricting AI use, while others are attempting to teach students how to use it responsibly. The debate was reignited recently in New York, where the city’s public school system announced a one-year restriction on generative AI for students through eighth grade, whilst high school students will receive more limited AI literacy opportunities. The policy reflects growing concerns about overreliance on AI and the effect on independent problem-solving.
The disagreement highlights a wider global divide in education: should schools keep AI out, or teach students how to use it properly?
AI literacy may become as important as digital literacy
Keeping AI completely outside the classroom may not be realistic. Students are growing up in a world where artificial intelligence is becoming part of workplaces, businesses, research and everyday services. The question, therefore, may not be whether students should encounter AI, but whether they should encounter it under guidance.
UNESCO’s AI Competency Framework for Students proposes 12 competencies across four dimensions: a human-centred mindset, AI ethics, AI techniques and applications, and AI system design. It also places learning at three levels: understand, apply and create.
That approach suggests something more useful than simply telling students, “Don’t use AI.” Students need to understand how AI works, what it can and cannot do, how bias can affect its answers, how to check information and when using it crosses an ethical line. They also need to understand that AI can be confidently wrong. An answer that sounds intelligent is not automatically accurate. This means traditional skills such as reading, writing, reasoning and fact-checking may become even more important in the AI era rather than being less important.
The teacher is not becoming irrelevant
One fear surrounding AI in education is that technology could eventually reduce the need for teachers. But AI cannot replace a teacher’s role. A teacher does more than provide information. Teachers observe students. They recognise when a child is confused, discouraged or struggling. They understand the classroom environment. They provide encouragement, discipline, context and human interaction. AI can explain a mathematical formula.
It cannot replace the relationship between a teacher and a student. This is why UNESCO has repeatedly advocated a human-centred approach to AI in education, emphasising that technology should support learning rather than displace human agency. The ideal classroom of the future may therefore not be one where AI replaces teachers or one where AI is banned. It may be one where teachers determine when AI is useful, when it is inappropriate and when students need to work without it.
The Nigerian classroom
For Nigeria, the conversation comes with another layer: access. Not every student has the same smartphone, computer, internet connection or ability to pay for digital services. That creates the possibility of a new educational divide.
One student may have constant access to sophisticated AI tools, while another may struggle to access basic digital learning resources. If AI becomes an important part of education without addressing those inequalities, technology could widen the gap between students rather than close it. UNESCO has identified the digital divide and unequal access as major considerations in AI’s development for education. Its position is that AI should not deepen existing inequalities in access to knowledge and learning opportunities.
For Nigerian schools, therefore, introducing AI cannot simply mean encouraging students to download chatbots. It also means considering infrastructure, teacher training, internet access, data privacy, digital skills and clear rules around academic work.
What should students actually use AI for?
There is a middle ground between banning AI and allowing students to use it for everything.
Students could use AI to:
- Explain difficult concepts in simpler language.
- Generate practice questions.
- Help identify gaps in their understanding.
- Brainstorm ideas before starting an assignment.
- Provide feedback on a draft.
- Practise languages.
- Create revision materials.
- Explore different approaches to solving a problem.
But there should also be tasks where students work without AI. They need opportunities to write from their own understanding, solve problems independently, conduct research and demonstrate what they can remember without technological assistance.
One emerging idea is to teach with AI and teach without AI. The goal is not to pretend the technology does not exist. It is to ensure that students remain capable of thinking when the technology is unavailable.
The student who knows how to think still has the advantage
The biggest danger may not be that AI makes students less intelligent. It is that students could become so accustomed to having answers generated for them that they stop practising the skills required to find those answers themselves. That distinction matters. A student who uses AI to understand a difficult topic may become a better learner. A student who uses AI to avoid understanding the topic may become dependent on it. The technology is the same. The outcome is different.
Ultimately, the future of AI in education may depend less on the sophistication of the machines and more on the rules, expectations and habits built around them. Schools cannot simply ask whether AI is good or bad for students. They have to ask a harder question:
What kind of students do they want to produce in a world where machines can increasingly provide the answers?
If the answer is students who can think critically, question information, create original ideas and use technology responsibly, then AI does not necessarily have to be the enemy of education. It could become one of its most powerful tools. But only if students remain in control of the learning. And only if the machine remains the assistant — not the student.