A private school in Texas has replaced teachers with AI bots. Students learn core academics in just 2 hours a day through software, with no textbooks, no homework, and no traditional teaching. US Education Secretary Linda McMahon visited and loved it. But a CNN investigation found parents pulling their children out after discovering the kids had fallen behind, were anxious, and had, in one mother’s words, turned “zombie-like.”
Meanwhile, the Brookings Institution has just published the most comprehensive global study ever conducted on AI in education, consulting over 500 people across 50 countries. Their conclusion? Right now, the risks of AI in children’s education overshadow the benefits.
The Alpha School Experiment
Alpha School is a chain of private schools founded in Austin, Texas, charging between $10,000 and $75,000 a year. Students sit in front of laptops with headsets or VR sets and learn through AI-driven software for about 2 hours each morning. The rest of the day covers life skills workshops. There are no teachers in the traditional sense. Adults in the room are called “guides,” there for motivation and support, not instruction.
CNN’s investigation found that at Alpha’s Brownsville, Texas campus, multiple families raised serious concerns. Children were becoming fixated on hitting software-set metrics rather than actually learning. Some were staying up late or skipping lunch to boost their numbers, leading to anxiety and tears. One parent, Jessica Lopez, enrolled her autistic daughter, hoping the self-paced model would help. Instead, both her daughters shifted from curiosity to an extreme focus on data targets. When she withdrew them and moved them to public school, she discovered they had actually fallen behind.
Alpha’s charter school applications have been rejected by several US states, including Pennsylvania, whose Department of Education said the AI model was “untested” and failed to demonstrate how it would ensure alignment with educational standards. Despite this, the model is expanding rapidly, with campuses in Miami, San Francisco, and Virginia.
What the Biggest Global Study Says
The Brookings Institution’s Center for Universal Education spent a year running what they call a “premortem” on AI in education. Not waiting a decade to see what went wrong, but studying the risks now while there is still time to act. They consulted students, teachers, parents, and technologists across 50 countries, reviewed over 400 research studies, and convened a Delphi panel of experts.
Their headline finding is stark. At this point in its development, the risks of using generative AI in children’s education overshadow the benefits. And this is not because AI has no educational value. It does. The problem is that the risks are different in nature from the benefits. The risks undermine children’s foundational cognitive development, the very thing education is supposed to build.
The report describes what NPR called a “doom loop of AI dependence.” When students use AI that gives them the answer, they stop thinking for themselves. They stop learning to distinguish truth from fiction. They stop developing the ability to construct arguments. Rebecca Winthrop, the report’s lead author, put it clearly. When children shortcut learning with generative AI, it is bad for their cognitive development. Students need to make mistakes and deeply engage with content to become independent thinkers.
IBM Technology has a great explainer on this tension between AI and critical thinking in education. Here is a clip.
The Real Dilemma
And that is the core tension. AI has real potential in education, for personalised learning, for accessibility, for reaching the 250 million young people globally who lack reliable access to schooling. But the way we are deploying it right now risks doing more harm than good.
And here is where I want to speak directly to educators.
I meet educators all the time who are afraid of AI. And I understand why. But fear is producing paralysis, and paralysis is producing a vacuum. If teachers refuse to engage with AI, they cannot guide their students through it. If school leaders do not understand how these tools work, they cannot set responsible policies. And if the education sector stays silent, the tech companies and the politicians will fill that space for them.
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Sources
CNN Investigation – Alpha School
Brookings Podcast – “Do AI’s Risks Outweigh the Benefits for Students and Schools?”
NPR Coverage – “Report: The risks of AI in schools outweigh the benefits”
The 74 – “Four Takeaways from New Report on AI’s Risks in Education”
Show Notes
- 500+ people consulted across 50 countries (Brookings Global Task Force)
- 400+ research studies reviewed (Brookings)
- Alpha School tuition: $10,000 to $75,000 per year
- Alpha School: 2 hours of AI-driven academics per day
- Charter applications rejected by multiple US states, including Pennsylvania
- National Academy for AI Instruction: aims to train 400,000 US educators over 5 years
- 250 million young people globally lack reliable access to education (Brookings)
About the Podcast Host
AI and Communications Specialist | Author | Podcaster | International Speaker
Joanne Sweeney is a recognised leader in digital marketing and digital transformation, specialising in the practical application of AI to enhance communication strategies. The founder of Digital Training Institute, Joanne, empowers leaders and communications professionals to leverage AI responsibly and effectively, ensuring transparency, trust, and tangible results.
She completed the Harvard Kennedy School Executive Programme in AI and Public Policy this summer before launching her fourth book AI Playbook, in September. Joanne has also published two editions of Public Sector Marketing Pro, which were preceded by her first title, Social Media Under Investigation Law Enforcement and the Social Web.
Her books have become go-to resources for governments, public sector and policing agencies, as well as marketing and communications professionals, all navigating the challenges of the changing Internet.
Joanne is the host of the AI SIX Podcast, a daily six-minute podcast that provides actionable insights, expert interviews, and practical advice to help professionals navigate the new world of work.
