AI Teacher Assistants
The rating
Our assessment of how this product aligns with each of The Institute’s eight AI Principles. Full detail in the Evaluation section below.
AI Principles
AI teacher assistants are generative AI tools designed to help educators with lesson planning, grading, communication, and administrative tasks. Unlike general chatbots, these tools are built specifically for classroom use and promise to save teachers time while improving student outcomes.
As in many fields, there is the potential for AI to support teachers and administrators with a variety of tasks. However, in K–12 education, proper processes and guardrails are needed to ensure that these tools do not produce low-quality, incoherent materials that undermine the investments that schools have made in research-backed curricula, professional development, and teacher expertise.
These tools can act as "invisible influencers" in students' learning, shaping what they learn through content that may contain biases, inaccuracies, or one-sided perspectives.
Schools and districts need clear processes and guidelines to harness the benefits of AI teacher assistants while avoiding "outsourced thinking" that undermines educational decision-making.
High-stakes uses like IEPs and behavior plans pose special risks.
AI can be a powerful assistant for teachers and administrators to increase productivity and boost creativity.
AI teacher assistants work best when they build on existing high-quality curricula and materials—not replace them. Start with what you have.
These tools require experienced educators who can provide context about students and teaching, then critically evaluate outputs prior to classroom use. Novice teachers may lack the experience needed to use these tools
What AI Teacher Assistants do well
When used with proper context, AI teacher assistants can help teachers adapt and differentiate their curriculum materials more efficiently than starting from scratch.
When used carefully, AI teacher assistants can help educators handle routine tasks like creating discussion questions or generating multiple versions of assignments, freeing up time for direct student interaction and creative teaching.
The best AI teacher assistants amplify teacher knowledge. They work best when teachers bring their knowledge of students, curriculum, and pedagogy to guide and refine the output.
Where they fall short
Without proper integration with existing curricula, AI teacher assistants risk fragmenting learning and undermining the coherent, sequential progressions that research-backed materials provide.
These tools can directly impact what students learn. When AI generates lesson content, discussion questions, or feedback, it is shaping young minds in ways that aren't always obvious. Our testing found that these tools can present single-sided viewpoints as fact, potentially influencing how students see themselves and others. It's well known that AI tools can perpetuate biases, stereotypes, and misinformation, and without review and reflection, potentially harmful content can easily be placed in front of students.
While new teachers may be comfortable with AI technology, they may lack the pedagogical critical thinking skills needed to effectively evaluate and refine AI outputs from AI teacher assistants.
Recommendations for effective use
Based on our comprehensive risk assessments, AI teacher assistants can be valuable tools when used with proper oversight—but educators, administrators, students, and parents will need to provide that oversight to ensure that AI teacher assistants are adding value to learning experiences.
Start with your curriculum and materials
- Consider uploading existing lesson plans, curriculum guides, and instructional materials before asking the AI teacher assistant to generate content.
- Use the AI teacher assistant to build on and enhance what you already have, not replace it.
- Always review AI-generated content for alignment with your curriculum sequence, context, and teaching goals.
Provide pedagogical context
- Share information about students' learning needs and challenges.
- Specify teaching strategies and approaches that work best for specific content, your classroom, or profiles of learners.
- Provide examples of successful lessons or activities when asking for similar content.
Review everything before using
- Check AI-generated content for accuracy, bias, and appropriateness, and edit and refine outputs to match your needs.
- Ensure that materials connect to previous and future learning experiences.
Navigate high-stakes uses carefully
- Avoid using AI to generate IEPs, 504 plans, behavioral intervention plans, or progress reports. These tasks require synthesizing information from multiple sources over long time periods.
- AI teacher assistants generate these kinds of documents based on limited information. If you do choose to use AI for support with these tasks, apply extra professional judgment and scrutiny to all outputs.
Establish clear policies
- Develop guidelines for appropriate use of AI teacher assistants in your school.
- With your teachers, create processes for reviewing AI-generated materials before classroom use.
- Communicate with families about how AI is being used in instruction.
Provide training and support
- Train teachers on what AI does and doesn't know.
- Teach educators how to critically evaluate AI outputs.
- Offer ongoing professional development and support on using AI tools.
- Provide additional oversight and support when novice teachers use AI tools.
Protect student privacy
- Establish clear guidelines about what student information can be shared with AI tools.
- Ensure that AI tools meet district privacy and security standards.
- Train staff on appropriate vs. inappropriate information sharing.
Choose tools thoughtfully
- Ensure that any tools that are selected add educational value and support your system's goals.
- Evaluate tools for their ability to integrate with existing materials and systems.
- Consider the "friction" built into tools—it can be beneficial to identify key points for educators to pause and evaluate outputs.
Integrate with existing curricula
- Ensure that AI teacher assistants enhance adopted curricula, not replace or disrupt their coherence.
- Ensure that teachers use high-quality materials as AI inputs.
Invest in professional development
Build educator capacity for safe, ethical, responsible, and effective use of AI.
Develop expertise in critically evaluating AI outputs.
Establish quality control processes
Create review processes for AI-generated materials.
Develop rubrics for evaluating AI content quality and alignment.
Build feedback loops to improve AI use over time.
More risk assessments
