Joshua Lukose
Date: 3/5/2026
In the near future, the student who needs help in class might not turn to the smart friend, but rather, they’ll just chat with an AI. That’s the reality behind AI tutors: students can get instant explanations, practice problems, and feedback 24/7. Tools like ChatGPT, Khanmigo, and AI built into learning platforms already help students learn math, writing, and even programming in a fraction of the time a classroom could teach them. This raises an important question: are AI tutors the next step in modern education, or are they creating an even bigger problem? AI tutoring can make learning more personalized and accessible, but it also brings up concerns about privacy, dependence, and fairness.
AI tutors take what a student asks and responds like a teacher would, but much faster. For example, if a student types “I don’t get derivatives, explain it simply,” an AI tutor can break it down step-by-step and then generate practice problems, all in a few seconds. Some models can even adapt to a student’s strengths and weaknesses over time, noticing where they always mess up, and then focusing more on it. This is different from a normal classroom due to its increased efficiency, as a single teacher has to split their attention with dozens of students, but there can always be an AI tutor for each student.
AI tutoring also makes help more accessible. Not everyone can afford to get tutored privately or have their parents help with homework. With AI, any student with a device (and many students now get a school-issued laptop as standard) can get explanations whenever they want, which would help them to not struggle or fall behind. Also, AI could help teachers; rather than replacing them, these models could help take some pressure off. They could use AI to generate extra practice worksheets, give advice for grading, or to brainstorm how to explain certain concepts. These tutors can also make learning less intimidating, because some students may feel too embarrassed to ask questions in class, but are fine with asking a machine in private.
Despite the benefits, however, there are concerns that must be addressed. A major issue is data collection; a student who constantly uses AI to learn may have a profile built on them, including what they struggle with and personal details if they happen to overshare. This runs a privacy risk, especially if the student is a minor. Another pressing issue is dependence: if a student uses AI for every single assignment, they are likely going to stop building the skills for the subject and just rely on the tutor to do all the work, defeating the purpose of learning with the AI tutor. This also makes it hard for teachers to know if work submitted is by the student or the AI, putting a lot of students in a grey area.
AI tutors have the potential to be one of the greatest tools for education in modern history, but only if they are used correctly. The matter isn’t banning AI tutoring, but rather, finding where it fits into learning. It needs to become a support system that helps students learn, not a shortcut to easily do schoolwork. As AI becomes increasingly common in schools, where this line between helping and hurting education will become more and more prevalent.