Poll: 54% of US teachers say AI is eroding students' critical thinking skills

A nationally representative Ipsos poll of 545 teachers found that 54% believe AI is making it harder for students to develop critical thinking skills, while 55% say students mostly use AI as a shortcut to avoid doing more work. Despite these concerns, nearly 8-in-10 teachers think schools should teach responsible AI use, and a majority (60%) have used AI themselves for work tasks, with most saying it saves time. Teachers highlighted the importance of teaching students to interrogate and verify AI outputs, warning that over-reliance could lead students to "be led to believe anything."