There are increasing concerns that students’ critical thinking skills are weakening due to the use of artificial intelligence. Media literacy has become central to the conversation about how to address those concerns.
The problem is that in the age of AI, schools are playing a game of media literacy catch-up to help their students apply a more critical eye to online content. They need to speed up efforts to build the skills needed to examine AI-generated content to help students protect themselves from being misled or harmed by inaccurate or inappropriate online material.
According to a RAND Corp. report on AI and homework use from February 2025, 48% of middle school students reported being concerned that AI is harming their critical thinking skills. This number increased by 20 percentage points to 68% by December 2025. In addition, high school students reported a similar concern about the effect of AI, starting at 55% and increasing to 65% over the same time period.
School principals are especially worried about the use of AI by students, according to a 2025 College Board report. Eighty-seven percent of principals say AI could make it less likely that students will develop critical thinking skills and 82% worry that the use of the technology could get in the way of students engaging deeply with course material.
The challenges created by AI are making media literacy education a higher priority across the country. At least half of U.S. states have enacted laws to advance media literacy education, with 11 passing new legislation since January 2024, according to a report published earlier this year by Media Literacy Now, a nonprofit organization that teaches media literacy to K-12 students.
Based on conversations Education Week has had with educators, below are questions teachers can encourage students to ask when using AI:
1. Am I using AI within the bounds of the assignment?
Teachers can outline for students what is acceptable and not acceptable when using AI for help with an assignment. Students can ask if they have any questions about those guardrails.
For example, in New Jersey’s Passaic school district, students are given an AI acceptable-use rubric. This has been used by some teachers as conversation starters with students about AI, including discussions about responsible use and expectations for assignments.
This exercise can get students thinking about how they want to use AI in their school work.
2. Would I ask my teacher to do this work for me?
Kelly Guilfoil, an English teacher and multilingual specialist at Lake Stevens High School in Washington state, is addressing ethics and AI at the school. Guilfoil created a PowerPoint guide about AI use to help students reflect on the tasks they are asking AI to do and compare those to that of a teacher.
Would a student ask a teacher to write their essay for them? No. Therefore, they should not ask AI to write their essay. Would a student ask a teacher for help with brainstorming for an essay? Yes—which means AI can help with brainstorming ideas for an essay.
3. Are the sources AI provides credible?
The last tip is designed to help students decipher false information from reliable sources. AI has made this challenge much more difficult. One teacher has suggested: if students use AI, then they should begin with a human prompt and end with human reflection.
Students can check the information by comparing AI-generated responses against other online sources. If the information is an image, students can reverse search it, which is looking up an image without using text or keywords, to get more information on the image, according to previous Education Week reporting.
Bottom line: Most experts recommend that students use AI with a healthy level of skepticism and always fact-check the answers it generates. Teachers should encourage them to always take that approach.
