My commute to work includes driving past cows—lots of them. This, you may infer, means that the folks in these parts of southwestern Ontario listen to their share of country music (myself included). Country music is often poked fun at for being predictable, and a new country song entitled “Walk My Way” hits a home run for its generic, uninspired lyrics. What is different about this artist’s twang, however, is that it was generated by artificial intelligence.
At this point, AI has entered almost every aspect of daily life. While many adults have accepted it as an inevitable part of the future, research into how teenagers perceive AI is still emerging. The study Youth Perspectives on Technology Ethics (Durall Gazulla et al., 2025) found that Finnish teenagers (aged 13 to 16) could reflect on the ethical dimensions of AI, even without prior formal instruction. Building on this finding, I wanted to explore how my rural students would respond after engaging in a lesson on AI literacy.
I surveyed 28 Grade 12 students about a couple of AI applications, including one that lets people “talk” to deceased relatives and another that claims to be Jesus (for a fee). When I asked them to rate their level of concern about the possible negative social or emotional impacts on a scale from 1 to 5, with 5 meaning very concerned, 75% chose 5. This tells me that, at a gut level, students recognize where the moral ground of AI gets slippery—a finding supported by the work of Durall Gazulla et al. (2025). When questioned about fully AI-generated actors and musicians, 75% of the students reported being “very concerned” about the impacts of generative AI on the entertainment industry.
These are not the only things about AI that have them worried. When asked, “How concerned are you about the negative environmental impact of data centres— including energy use, water consumption, and pollution?” 89% of the students chose 4 or 5. Eighty-two percent also reported being concerned with the labour impacts this is having on people in African countries who are working as data annotators.
What are they using generative AI for? It turns out, a lot of things. While only 35% of the students admitted using it for schoolwork, a whopping 86% reported using it for entertainment or personal research. Fifteen percent said they used it for school teams, clubs, or activities outside of the classroom, and the same percentage also reported using it for employment outside of school. As these are current Grade 12 students, it should come as no surprise that 19% reported using generative AI for college and university applications.
Do they agree with their teachers on what is considered plagiarism? It appears that they do: 89% of students said that using AI to generate a first draft and copying or slightly modifying AI answers for worksheets or homework was plagiarism. 79% thought that relying on AI summaries rather than engaging with the original source was plagiarism, and 75% felt that using AI to generate outlines or thesis statements was plagiarism.
Why, then, do so many teachers—including myself—find themselves repeatedly addressing inappropriate AI use? This suggests a disconnect between students’ stated beliefs about ethical AI use and their actual behaviours. Bridging this gap is an important area for further attention in education research.
A report entitled Teen and Young Adult Perspectives on Generative AI (Common Sense Media, Hopelab, & Center for Digital Thriving at Harvard Graduate School of Education, 2024) suggests that youth perspectives are complex, socially aware, and often underrepresented in decision-making. I asked students, “In your opinion, what can be done to help students use AI more effectively and responsibly?” While a few students expressed strong opposition (“They shouldn’t use it. End of story— we have brains for a reason, and seeing how much everyone uses it now sickens me.”), many were uncertain in their responses. However, several students offered thoughtful insights, including:
• “Talk more about how AI affects the environment, learn when to use chatbots versus search engines, explain what is acceptable and unacceptable AI use.”
• “Classes should be teaching ways that they can and cannot use it. Inform students on what is actually happening when using AI.”
• “Teach them the proper ways to use it (e.g., edit grammar mistakes, not write your assignment for you), educate them on the impacts it has on the environment, inform them of their consequences if they’re caught using it incorrectly.”
• “Clear rules from the school, not each teacher. There should not be fluctuating rules from classroom to classroom.”
These responses suggest that while students are already engaging with questions of AI use, they require more structured support to do so thoughtfully and responsibly. Moving forward, clearer policies and classroom practices are needed to guide ethical AI usage in ways that are transparent and accessible to students. At the same time, there is a need for further research into the pedagogical approaches that best foster ethical and critical engagement with AI. Finally, student voice must remain central to this work. As this inquiry has demonstrated, students bring valuable perspectives that should inform how AI is integrated into educational spaces.
References
Common Sense Media, Hopelab, & Center for Digital Thriving at Harvard Graduate School of Education. (2024). Teen and young adult perspectives on generative AI: Patterns of use, excitements, and concerns. https://assets.hopelab.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Teen-and-Young-Adult-Perspectives-on-Generative-AI.pdf
Durall Gazulla, E., Hirvonen, N., Sharma, S., Hartikainen, H., Jylhä, V., Iivari, N., Kinnula, M. & Baizhanova, A. (2025). Youth perspectives on technology ethics: analysis of teens’ ethical reflections on AI in learning activities. Behaviour & Information Technology, 44(5), 888–911. https://doi.org/10.1080/0144929X.2024.2350666
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Deidre Harrington
Deidre Harrington, BA., BEd., MLIS has over 20 years of teaching experience. She holds a Bachelor of Education and a Master of Library and Information Science from Western University. She has served in roles including classroom teacher, eLearning instructor, summer school teacher, department head, Learning Technologies Coordinator, and Ministry course writer. As a current member, and past chairperson, of the Teacher Education Liaison Committee at Western University, she enjoys collaborating with Teacher Candidates and Faculty. Deidre works as a Teacher-Librarian at a rural high school in Southwestern Ontario. Find her on Instagram @aisopenlibrarian.
This article is featured in Canadian Teacher Magazine’s Fall 2026 issue.
