Sep 9, 2025
Introduction: Beyond the
Hype and Panic
For the
past couple of years, the conversation around students and
artificial intelligence has been dominated by a palpable sense of
anxiety. We’ve all heard the headlines and the hallway chatter -
fears of widespread, undetectable cheating, the slow erosion of
critical thinking, and the looming threat of a "cognitive debt"
where students outsource their learning and forget how to think for
themselves.
But in
Series 12 of the AI in
Education podcast we spent time listening to a wide range of
students, from curious middle schoolers to ambitious university
attendees. We felt our job was to tune out the noise and listen to
the signal. And the signal is telling a very different story. The
reality of how this generation is engaging with AI is far more
nuanced, sophisticated, and frankly, more hopeful than the panic
suggests. It's a story of active, often brilliant, adaptation. Here
are the seven most surprising truths we learned, directly from
them.
1. The Great "Cheating Panic" Is Largely a
Misunderstanding
While
it’s true that some students use AI to cheat, the fear of a
generation of plagiarists is largely overblown and misinterprets
how students are actually engaging with these tools.
Groundbreaking research from Dr. Anna Denejkina [Episode
14] reveals a reality that challenges the common narrative: the
vast majority of students, around 80%, state they have not
plagiarised using AI and have no intention of doing
so.
More
importantly, Dr. Denejkina uncovered a crucial, counter-intuitive
insight. Many students who think they might be plagiarising are, in fact,
using AI for perfectly legitimate learning activities. They're
workshopping ideas, brainstorming essay structures, and checking
their grammar - processes we would celebrate if they were done with
a peer or a tutor.
This
is compounded by a very real fear of being falsely
accused of
cheating, a significant concern noted by Jake Turnbull from Pymble
Ladies' College [Episode
8]. The core issue isn't a sudden decline in academic
integrity, but a generation left confused and anxious by a lack of
clear institutional guidelines. As Dr. Denejkina asked, “It sounds
like any use of generative AI for schooling for learning to them is
plagiarism? So where have we gone wrong that young people are
thinking they're plagiarising when they're actually
not?”
2. They Want an AI Tutor, Not a Cheat
Sheet
Overwhelmingly, students are turning to AI not to bypass
their work, but to find a space for immediate, non-judgmental help
to better understand it. They are seeking a patient, on-demand
tutor that can fill in the gaps left by traditional classroom
instruction.
Data
from the Chegg survey [Episode
2] was striking: when students struggle academically, 29% turn
to generative AI first for support. In contrast, only 8% turn to
their professors first. It’s not a rejection of their teachers, but
a search for a safe space to be vulnerable. This explains why, in a
Harvard Business School case study [Episode
11], a custom AI tutor was primarily used for "concept
breakdown" and to ask questions students were "too embarrassed to
raise in front of 90 of my peers."
This
desire for genuine learning was made explicit at Thomas Blackwood’s
school [Episode
8], where students involved in developing a custom AI
told the developer in no uncertain terms:
- We want the AI to teach us and not give us the
answer.
It’s
a sentiment perfectly embodied by 12-year-old Megan [Episode
6], who uses AI for her math homework. She doesn't just ask for
the solution; she specifically prompts it to "explain how you did
this" and, if necessary, simplify the explanation to a "year one"
level. With AI, there is no judgment, only help.
3. They're Using AI to Become More Creative, Not
Less
One
of the most persistent fears is that AI will atrophy creativity,
replacing human imagination with machine-generated mediocrity. The
story of Caitlin, a Year 11 student, [Episode
10] completely flips that script.
For
an English creative writing assignment that required a video
component, Caitlin used an AI video generator. Where previous
cohorts had relied on the same handful of clips "they found off
YouTube or Clickview" that were "just boring," she was able to
produce unique, high-quality visuals that brought her story to
life.
Crucially, she wrote the entire story herself. The AI wasn't
a replacement for her creativity; it was a tool to enhance and
visualise it. The process demanded more from her, not less. To get
the AI to produce the exact scenes she imagined, she had to engage
in an iterative problem-solving process, refining her own
descriptive writing when the AI failed. As she explained, "I've had
to redescribe it and tell AI... 'I don't want this. That was a bad
idea.'" In this case, the AI wasn't a crutch; it was a creative
collaborator that demanded a higher level of skill from its human
partner.
4. They're Becoming Masters of a New Skill: AI
Orchestration
Students like Caitlin [Episode
10] aren't just using one AI in isolation; they are
developing sophisticated workflows that chain multiple tools
together to achieve a complex goal. This is a new, self-taught form
of digital literacy: AI orchestration.
Caitlin didn't just type a simple command into the video
generator. First, she went to ChatGPT to help her craft a detailed,
descriptive text prompt. She then fed that highly refined prompt
into a separate AI video generator to get the best possible output.
She was using one AI to prompt another.
This
is a complex, problem-solving skill that students are developing
organically, far ahead of any formal curriculum. They are learning
how to manage a team of specialised AI assistants, assigning the
right task to the right tool to achieve their vision.
5. AI Is Their 24/7 Coach for Academics, Life, and
Well-Being
For
this generation, AI is becoming a ubiquitous assistant that extends
far beyond the classroom. It's an academic coach, a life coach, and
a well-being support tool, available 24/7.
The
academic coaching is clear, perfectly captured in Brett Moller’s
story [Episode
3] of his daughter, who, after getting a math exam back, took a
photo of a question she got wrong and prompted her AI, "Please help
me, why did I get this wrong?"
But
its role as a "life coach" is just as significant. As a report
in The Guardian noted [Episode
13], students are using AI for everything from writing
internship applications to getting dating advice. The support even
extends to mental well-being. Twelve-year-old Megan [Episode
6] shared how she turns to AI when she gets stressed
with her dancing:
"I
ask it, can you help me calm myself down? And it's like, sure, take
a few deep breaths and stuff like that."
For
many students, AI is becoming a trusted and versatile first point
of contact for a wide range of personal and professional
challenges.
6. Students Are Actually Teaching the
Teachers
In a
fascinating power inversion, students are often the most
knowledgeable AI experts in the classroom, leading to moments where
they are teaching their own teachers.
After
Caitlin [Episode
10] demonstrated the stunning videos she had created for
her English project, her teacher was so impressed that she wanted
to learn how. Caitlin ended up holding an impromptu "master class"
for her entire English class, writing the steps on the board for
everyone to follow.
This
isn't an isolated incident. At Jake Turnbull's school [Episode
8], students ran an entire professional
development day for 500 staff members, demonstrating how they use
AI in their learning. This role-reversal highlights the incredible
pace of technological adoption and underscores the importance of
valuing and integrating student expertise into our educational
models.
7. Clear Rules and Safe Tools Foster Trust and
Responsibility
When
institutions provide clear guidance and safe, sanctioned tools,
students respond with greater trust and more responsible behavior.
The confusion that plagues many students is replaced by
confidence.
Caitlin's school [Episode
10], for example, uses a "stoplight system" (red
for no AI, yellow for polishing and ideas, green for encouraged
use). This simple framework removes ambiguity, helps students feel
trusted, and empowers them to use AI without fear of accidental
wrongdoing.
At
Brett Moller's school [Episode
3], student prompts are monitored - not to punish, but
to identify opportunities to teach them how to become better, more
effective prompters. And at All Hallows' School
[Episode12], students noted that they trust the school-provided
Gemini account far more than other public tools. The core paradox
is clear: providing structure and guardrails doesn’t stifle student
use of AI, but rather unleashes it by giving them the confidence to
experiment responsibly.
Conclusion: Learning
from the Learners
If we
take the time to listen, it becomes clear that students are using
AI in ways that are far more constructive, sophisticated, and
hopeful than we often give them credit for. They are not passive
consumers waiting for an easy answer. They are strategists like
Caitlin, orchestrating multiple AIs to bring a creative vision to
life, and lifelong learners like Brett Moller's daughter, turning a
moment of failure on an exam into an opportunity for understanding.
They are active, critical, and creative users who are navigating a
complex new landscape with ingenuity.
Instead of asking how we can stop students from using AI,
perhaps the better question is: what can we learn from them about
how to use it well?