Education
BY DIEGO COLLAZO
University of Houston Professor Meng Li talks AI use in schools Since its release in 2022, generative articial intelligence tools like ChatGPT have given stu- dents access to technology that can complete tasks and assignments with a simple prompt, blurring the lines of academic integrity and sparking discussions on AI’s place in the classroom. Community Impact spoke with Meng Li, founder and director of the Bauer Human-Centered AI Institute at the University of Houston, to discuss the role of AI in academia. Have you seen students using AI tools in the classroom, and has it become a problem? Of course, within the classroom and also out- side the classroom. Students are young; they’re quick. They adopted AI tools, so of course that’s happening. It really depends on the context. I think the reality is we cannot ignore AI. Students are using it, so we cannot let them not use AI. I think when ChatGPT rst came out, schools restricted students from using it, but it’s not happening anymore. People are more welcoming of AI for students. I think the bigger question is how to best use AI in the classroom, or how to help our students learn based on these AI tools. What might the early stages of integrating AI into education look like? We need to dene what AI tools are appropriate, how to structure learning around them and how to adopt them in meaningful ways. It will take time. We’re still at the beginning of this transformation.
We need experimentation, feedback and collabora- tion between educators and technologists to make AI work eectively in education. How might AI aect how students think, create and problem-solve in the long run? A lot of people worry that students will become too dependent on AI—that it will replace critical thinking or creativity—but I don’t think it has to be that way. If we use AI the right way, it can actually help students think better. AI can give fast feedback, generate ideas or show dierent ways to approach a problem, but students still have to decide what to use and how. That decision-making process, that’s where the learning happens. Does the rapid advancement of AI worry you? Well, I think of replacement—task replacement, job replacement. We already know that’s hap- pening, and some people are not happy. For our society, it will have a big impact, but I think we don’t really need to worry too much. The reason is, we are smart. We have seen this, probably not with AI, but we’ve seen other technology like the internet, computers. I think we are ne. We don’t really need to worry too much. What role do schools and educators play when it comes to AI? I think a lot of university schools are developing AI policies. Train the professors, educators, teachers to learn how to use AI in their classroom or at least understand it. I think that’s important, and schools should do it. It is a very tough task because this AI scene is developing quite fast, but the discrepancy between the knowledge of students and the teach- ers is a big worry. As I said, students quickly learn those AI tools, so how do we, the teachers, know what AI looks like in practice? I think that’s very relevant. People probably ignore that.
By the numbers According to a January 2025 study from the Digital Education Council: • 86% of students use AI to help in school. • 54% use it weekly. • Nearly 25% use it daily. According to a February 2025 Higher Education Policy Institute study: • 92% of undergraduate students used AI in school, a 66% jump from 2024. According to a 2024 report from Ellucian, a higher education AI consultant rm: • 93% of higher education staff said they plan to implement more AI usage for work purposes in the coming years.
SOURCES: DIGITAL EDUCATION COUNCIL, HIGHER EDUCATION POLICY INSTITUTE, ELLUCIAN COMMUNITY IMPACT
This interview was edited for space, see the full interview at communityimpact.com .
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