UK teachers say kids can’t spell, write, or think straight – all thanks to AI

Two-thirds of more than 9,000 British school teachers, polled by the National Education Union, said they had noticed a steep drop in students’ core abilities, including basic literacy skills. They’re blaming AI.

“Students are losing core skills – thinking, creativity, writing, even how to have a conversation,” one teacher said.

Another added: “AI is destroying what ‘learning’ – problem-solving, critical thinking, and collaborative effort – is. I have seen too much cheating recently in exams and homework due to the use of AI.”

A third anonymous contributor noted: “Children no longer feel the need to spell as voice-to-text replaces knowledge.”

One of the chief concerns around the use of AI, particularly by young people, is the potential for essential skills to not fully develop due to a growing reliance on those tools.

It’s safe to say teachers in the United Kingdom – at least the ones polled for this National Education Union survey who see their students every day – are pretty depressed about them using AI in class or doing their homework.

According to the participants of the study, pupils perform worse in problem-solving and creativity. It’s also difficult for children to become more independent and develop critical thinking.

“It [the use of AI] has serious consequences for skill building and independence. We are not readying them for flexibility in the future,” said one respondent.

The findings come as the British government has pushed for a digital revolution in education, including plans announced in January to develop AI tutoring tools that could provide one-to-one learning support for up to 450,000 disadvantaged students.

“Children no longer feel the need to spell as voice-to-text replaces knowledge,”

A study participant.

The findings come as the British government has pushed for a digital revolution in education. In late January, a plan was announced to trial AI tutoring tools to support children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

But just 4% of polled teachers “strongly agree” with the plan for AI tutors, and nearly half (49%) are opposed, especially educators working in special schools.

“Students who need tutors often need more than academic support. AI will not give them that,” one respondent said, while another pointed out: “Surely AI tutoring is just another cost-cutting tool – another way to avoid providing schools with funding for adequate staffing numbers.”

However, even if teachers are wary of AI in classrooms, many are in fact increasingly relying on the technology in their own work. The survey found that 76% of teachers use AI for day-to-day tasks, up from 53% last year.

Most often, AI is used to create resources, plan lessons, or manage administrative work. Thankfully, only 7% of teachers said they use AI for grading.

Here at Cybernews, we’ve already noticed that people have sort of learned to outsource their brains to AI chatbots, and that it weakens our cognitive abilities.

In February, researchers from Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon University said in a new study that our critical thinking skills were suffering due to overreliance on AI.

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