In the middle of a typical class period at Naperville Central, a familiar black-and-white chat window glows across dozens of chromebook screens. For many students, ChatGPT has become as routine as opening Google Docs.
Generative artificial intelligence, a type of AI software that creates original content such as text, images and video in response to a user’s prompt, gained significant traction following the release of ChatGPT in 2022. Almost four years later, generative AI has become commonplace in various industries, companies and educational institutions, offering significant productivity benefits to any user regardless of their purpose.
Unlike traditional AI, generative AI can create new, original content from text and data inputs. Traditional AI excels at pattern recognition and analyzing existing data, but generative AI expands those capablities by producing human-like text, video and images, according to Forbes.
According to research conducted by the College Board in October 2025, the percentage of high school students who utilize generative AI tools for schoolwork is substantial and growing, with 52% to 61% of teens reporting frequent AI use. Students most often use generative AI to explain complex topics, revise work and brainstorm ideas.
“I think the reason [students] use [generative AI] a lot is because they feel like they have a lot of homework,” sophomore Abigail Najera said. “I [also] think it’s helpful for workers because I know my dad will use ChatGPT, and it’ll take a couple hours off his work day.”
With any technological advancement comes debate regarding safe and practical use. In schools, one of the most significant concerns is whether generative AI is reshaping the developing brains of teenagers, potentially affecting their ability to think critically and analyze information when an easily accessible chatbot can complete those same tasks more quickly.
“Technological progress is always a good thing, and AI is no different,” senior Rohan Jain said. “There’s a lot of things that it can be used for that are good, but there’s also bad applications as well.”
Student literacy
The Digital Education Council AI Student Survey conducted in October 2024 by the College Board reported that two-thirds of teens agree or strongly agree that excessive AI use could make them dependent on the tool and less capable academically. Additionally, 52% of high school students worry about over-reliance on generative AI tools, while 45% fear losing important skills such as memory and critical thinking.
“As a young person, your prefrontal cortex is not fully developed, and your limbic system is, which means you are emotional, and you function in the world [emotionally],” AP Psychology teacher Letitia Zwickert said. “So, the concern is that these AI tools are very appealing because of that. Concerns in research show that [AI is] deeply impacting the brain’s architecture and [students’] future abilities to to critically think and be creative.”
Adolescence (roughly ages 10 to 25) is a critical period for brain development, where the brain develops self-control, complex reasoning and social-emotional processing. This stage is characterized by higher neuroplasticity, the ability to reorganize synaptic connections in the brain in response to physical experiences. With AI tools, students unknowingly damage their neuronal development, a risk that has significant implications in the future.
“[By using AI], are you going through the needed hardship and challenge necessary as a young person to develop your brain’s architecture?” Zwickert said. “Cognitive offload is a young person putting their critical thinking, creativity and just [the] human product that we can develop off onto technology and a machine. By doing that, we as a young person are not building our brain muscle.”
A recent study conducted by the MIT Media Lab asked three groups of students to write essays based on SAT prompts, giving one group access to ChatGPT, the other a Google search engine and the last group no external resources. The study found that the group utilizing ChatGPT consistently underperformed in brain engagement, linguistic intelligence and neuronal levels.
In contrast, the brain-only group showed the highest levels of neuronal connectivity, pointing at their higher cognitive function. Additionally, the essays of the ChatGPT users were also deemed soulless and lacking of individual thought, with most essay writers resorting to copy-pasting directly from the chatbot.
“I definitely think that over dependency and reliance is going to be a huge issue in the upcoming, years, because if people aren’t able to [stop], it’s a very slippery slope,” Jain said. “Once you start using it, you’re not really going to stop.”
The concerns aren’t only academic. Out of three essay-writing groups studied by the MIT Media Lab, the group that produced essays with only themselves or Google research reported higher feelings of satisfaction with their product and curiosity in the subject overall, which poses the question of whether overreliance on Generative AI tools can impact student self-worth and confidence in their educational skills.
“If you don’t feel academic self-efficacy, that means that you don’t feel like you can actually do this on your own,” Zwickert said. “[Schoolwork is] supposed to be tough, but when we offload it, we not only hurt our brain structure and our cognition, but we hurt ourselves and our self confidence.”
Despite these concerns, its has been widely argued that generative AI tools, when used properly, can enhance the learning experience. The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign explains how generative AI tools such as Gemini, MagicSchool and ChatGPT can help explain complex concepts in simple ways, enhancing student understanding.
“I think [my] grades have definitely been better [because of AI since] itI can use it to help me figure things out faster than I would normally,” Jain said. “[If] you don’t know what you’re doing wrong, [when] you plug in your work, it’ll tell you exactly where you made the mistake.”
Additionally, Brookings points out how AI can provide personalized learning plans for students by supplying immediate feedback, sophisticated tutoring support and a wider access to educational resources for teachers.
“If I [have] a test and there’s a lot of different topics I need to study, I can just give all the material to AI and say ‘give me a certain amount of questions,’” junior Nimai Nagireddy said. “I can be very specific and it allows me to customize how I study.”
A study conducted by researchers at Sichuan University in Chengdu, China found that when AI was designed into curriculum by teachers, students’ creativity and learning engagement were both enhanced. In fact, when the MIT Media Lab essay writing group that only utilized brainpower in their first trial were asked to re-write their essay with the help of ChatGPT, researchers found they performed well and even displayed increased levels of brain connectivity, emphasizing the viewpoint that AI, if used properly, can enhance the learning process.
“[Students should] focus first and most importantly on your own brain’s ability to process and work hard to gain that cognitive architecture that you need to address anything,” Zwickert said. “AI is a tool, and no matter what shape that tool has, you’ll be able to use it, if you have your own cognitive tools in place.”
Looking into the future
Workplace AI use has substantially increased in nearly every industry from retail to finance and technology sectors, according to a Gallup article. Furthermore, nearly four in ten employees say their organization has adopted AI technology to improve organization and increase productivity.
Accenture, a globally reaching business management consulting firm and IT company, is an example of how large companies are readily incorporating generative AI tools into their operations. In 2023, Accenture announced a 3 billion dollar investment into Data & AI with the motive of training current employees on AI technology and doubling its AI talent to 80,000 professionals.
“AI has the potential to so holistically change the work that people are doing across a company,” Accenture Senior Manager Liz Kneur Daly said. “If you’re going to get the most bang for your buck, unlock the greatest [return on investment], you’re going to really take a step back and think about the whole organization. How do we kind of build the muscle among people to get more comfortable with a more constant pace of change and see [AI] as an opportunity rather than a threat?”
Most recently, Accenture has announced that “regular adoption” of AI would be required by senior staff and all employees in order to gain promotions. AI literacy, the ability to evaluate and ethically use AI tools, combined with AI readiness, the capacity to effectively and efficiently implement AI, are two skills becoming more and more desirable in workplaces.
“AI [is] a big part of the world today,” Nagireddy said. “There’s no way it should just not be [involved in education] because in the workforce AI is being used to work too. [In] my software engineering class, we just had an interview with [a] senior developer, and he was telling us about how he uses AI in his daily life.”
Yahoo Finance reports that last year, Accenture laid off more than 11,000 employees in just three months due to their AI illiteracy. In fact, AI related layoffs are becoming more commonplace in various business and computer science industries. AI anxiety among students is mainly driven by this pressure regarding future job prospects in an AI-motored world.
“I can totally understand where [AI anxiety] might be coming from,” Daly said. “In just your high school career, you’ve probably seen a shift from everyone [and a] change of pace. [It’s] learning how to work with AI in a world where we know AI is a given, as opposed to just outright rejecting [it]. [It’s] build[ing] the skills to be marketable, because we know that’s just kind of a fact of what it is to live and work in our society.”
Solutions
Efforts to frame generative AI into high school education are varied in their approach. The School and District Administrator Survey conducted in June 2025 by the College Board reported that 39% of schools or districts do not allow generative AI use by students, with only 13% of schools encouraging and incorporating AI tools into the curriculum. Crafting AI policy requires a delicate balancing act with the concerns of student misuse, diminished learning engagement and the necessity of experiencing a rapidly growing technology.
“When you’re graduating college, getting ready to join the workforce, the skills and the technology that you’ll be working with will look different,” Daly said. “But what you can learn [about AI] today [that] is just fundamental?”
Central’s newly founded AI club aims to address that very question. By educating members on basics of AI projects, machine learning and safe use, the club hopes to increase AI literacy amongst students to better prepare them for future careers.
“Using AI without thought would be detrimental, but using AI intentionally and seeing the new ways that it can be utilized enhances not just a student’s capability, but also is going to prepare them for being able to use AI in their post secondary career,” Learning Support Coach and social studies teacher Rob Luigai said. “I think it’s absolutely essential that we start embracing AI in our classrooms in order to prepare students for the world.”
As a Learning Support Coach, Luigai instructs teachers at Central about different AI models such as Google Gemini, NotebookLM and Magic School, helping educators incorporate these materials into their curriculum. By including AI tools in an educational environment and providing time for discussion surrounding the technology, Central hopes to foster a safe space where ethical AI by students is encouraged without overreliance or misuse.
“We’ve been incredibly open to the changes that AI can create,” Luigai said. “Using AI to solve the biggest problems in the world today and enabling our youth to be on the forefront of how to do that is our job as educators, and I think [that is] something that we’re going to have to continue to focus on, through training and talking about how to use AI.”