Teaching with AI: Ethical Questions Every Educator Should Ask

What would you do if a student submitted AI-generated work without telling you?

Would it be considered cheating? Plagiarism? Or just using a tool?

What if the student thought it was allowed?

AI is changing how we think about authorship, originality, and responsibility in the classroom, and these are questions we need to think about as teachers.

Why ethics matter

We know that generative AI systems are not neutral. They reflect the data and choices of their developers, including bias and misinformation. The ethical use of AI is about fairness, transparency, accountability and student safety. As teachers, we are not just teaching content, we are teaching and shaping digital citizens.

Top ethical questions to consider

What data is AI trained on?

Generative AI tools are most commonly trained on large, often non-transparent datasets. This means the data can include biased, outdated or inappropriate content. Teachers and students need to have the understanding that what generative AI “creates” isn’t always the objective truth. 

How do we protect student privacy?

The most obvious answer is to not be putting student data into these tools. Avoiding including names or other identifying information of students when generating things as the teacher. Zooming out further, many AI tools collect and store user data – do you know where or how? To protect our students from their data being stored, avoid requiring them to log into tools that collect personal information. Additionally, always check if your district or school has an AI tool use policy. 

What does “cheating” mean in an AI world?

When students are using AI as the teacher it is our responsibility to define the clear boundaries of this use. Is brainstorming with AI okay? What about full paragraph generation? Being clear with students from the beginning helps avoid unwanted situations. 

Use analogies that students will understand: AI is like a calculator, it is useful for thinking but it shouldn’t replace the process of learning. Focusing on transparency and reflection not just restriction, will go a long way in opening up the door for conversations between you and your students about using AI.

Bias and fairness

Bias often shows up in outputs and if you aren’t reading critically you may miss it. Keeping an eye out for stereotypical representations within writing or images (think about jobs, gender roles, cultures etc.). Some voices and perspectives may be underrepresented or completely erased from responses. In my experience I have seen this underrepresentation happening most often for minority groups such as BIPOC and LGTBQIA2+. 

Teaching students to critically evaluate AI generated responses can go a long way for them in learning to recognize biases. Asking them to reflect on questions such as whose perspective is missing? Or Would a human say this? Students can also analyze different outputs on the same prompt considering what stays the same? and what changes?.

Transparency with students

Setting clear classroom expectations about when, how, and if students can use AI. Finding a system to make these expectations clear and easy to reference is key in feeling like it is manageable to keep up with. Checkout my Stoplight Tool under the Downloadables page for how I define AI use expectations for assignments in my classroom. Being clear on class contracts, rubrics, or having syllabus statements that define ethical AI use also helps to make this clear and accessible for students. 

When students are allowed to use AI – normalize citing it. Just like a book or any other website, students should be taught and expected to know how to cite the AI tool and how they used it in an age and stage appropriate way. Promoting academic honesty and digital transparency creates a great place to begin a conversation when something or someone goes astray from the expectations.

Teacher Responsibilities

Modelling ethical use of Ai goes a long way. Showing students how you use AI for planning, brainstorming or idea generation takes away the taboo feeling of the tool. Talk through your process, mentioning what you trust and what you double-check and why. Even better, consider building a lesson plan with the students to show them how you use it and then complete the lesson so they see the work in action!

Evaluate tools reliability before using them in the classroom. Testing out the prompts before assigning them to students, and avoid using tools that promote misinformation or output inappropriate content. If students will be using a tool extensively consider using a tool created for student use. An example is Magicschool.ai allows you to create a “classroom” and students join the link (without needing to provide information), and you can see each student’s prompts and conversations they are having with the tool.

Balancing innovation and responsibility

AI should be a thinking partner not  a shortcut. By scaffolding assignments so students are still required to show original thought and process it encourages students to use AI to support their thinking rather than replace it. Emphasizing metacognition with students through questions like what did the AI help you do? or what did you contribute? Will help them recognize this process. 

Questions every school community should be asking when integrating AI into classrooms include what AI tools are approved for use? How are we supporting teachers in ethical integration? What systems are in place for privacy, training, and student accountability? All of these things need to be thoughtfully addressed by the school community based on their core values and beliefs. 

Ethics isn’t about banning tools – it’s about using them well

We know that AI isn’t going away so we must teach students how to use it with purpose and integrity. Rather than it becoming one more thing that we need to fit into our busy school years having the mindset of ethical AI use being an extension of the digital citizenship and critical thinking that is already occurring in our classrooms. 
With thoughtful guidance, AI can enhance – not undermine – learning in our classrooms in today’s digital age.