Thinking Less? How AI Is Rewiring the Student Brain

Students are using AI more than ever for schoolwork — and most of them are worried about what it is doing to their ability to think. Five charts explore the growing tension between AI convenience and cognitive development.

Chart 1 — The Rise: AI Homework Use and Critical Thinking Concern (2025)

Over 2025, AI homework use among students jumped from 48% to 62%. But concern about its impact on critical thinking rose even faster — from 54% to 67%. Students are embracing AI and worrying about it at the same time.

Source: Schwartz, H. L., & Diliberti, M. K. (2026). More students use AI for homework, and more believe it harms critical thinking (RR-A4742-1). RAND Corporation. n = 1,214 U.S. youth aged 12–29.

Chart 2 — What Students Use AI For vs. What They Do Themselves (Multivariate)

Students are outsourcing the most cognitively demanding tasks to AI — looking up answers, brainstorming, and drafting writing — while keeping lower-stakes tasks like note-taking for themselves. This pattern is exactly what researchers warn about.

Source: Schwartz & Diliberti (2026), RAND. Task breakdown derived from reported survey findings on how students use AI for schoolwork.

Chart 3 — Who Worries Most? Critical Thinking Concern by Level and Gender (Multivariate)

Concern about AI harming critical thinking is not uniform. Middle schoolers and high schoolers worry more than college students. And across all levels, female students express significantly higher concern than male students.

Source: Schwartz & Diliberti (2026), RAND; EdWeek (March 2026). Gender breakdown derived from reported survey findings. Overall average = 67% (Dec 2025 survey).

Chart 4 — Teachers vs. Students: Views on AI’s Impact on Learning (Multivariate)

Students and teachers largely agree that AI is changing how thinking works in the classroom — but they disagree on what to do about it. Teachers are far more likely to see AI as a shortcut; students are more likely to see it as a necessary skill to learn.

Source: NPR/Ipsos poll, June 2026 (n = 545 K-12 teachers); Schwartz & Diliberti (2026), RAND (n = 1,214 students). School AI policy figure for students estimated from RAND findings.

Chart 5 — The Policy Gap: AI Use vs. School Readiness (Multivariate)

The gap between how much students use AI and how prepared schools are to guide that use is stark. While 62% of students use AI for homework, fewer than one in three schools has a formal policy — and barely one in four teachers has received any training.

Source: NPR/Ipsos poll, June 2026 (teachers/institutions); Schwartz & Diliberti (2026), RAND (students). Teacher training figure estimated from Ipsos reported findings.

References
Schwartz, H. L., & Diliberti, M. K. (2026). More students use AI for homework, and more believe it harms critical thinking: Selected findings from the American Youth Panel (RR-A4742-1). RAND Corporation. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA4742-1.html
NPR/Ipsos. (2026, June 5). Teachers concerned about the impact of AI on students’ critical thinking. Ipsos. https://www.ipsos.com/en-us/teachers-concerned-about-impact-ai-students-critical-thinking
Rintel, S., Banks, R., & Wilson, N. (2025). The impact of generative AI on critical thinking: Self-reported reductions in cognitive effort and confidence effects from a survey of knowledge workers. Microsoft Research / CHI ’25. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/lee_2025_ai_critical_thinking_survey.pdf
EdWeek. (2026, March 23). Students are worried that AI will hurt their critical thinking skills. Education Week. https://www.edweek.org/technology/students-are-worried-that-ai-will-hurt-their-critical-thinking-skills/2026/03