Generative AI can explain, summarize, translate and help a student practise. It can also produce confident errors, weaken independent work and expose personal information. Clear family and school expectations are more useful than either hype or panic.
Quick answer
What is a safe starting rule?
Use only teacher- or board-approved tools for schoolwork, never enter personal or confidential information, disclose meaningful AI assistance and make the student responsible for checking every claim and completing the thinking.
Protect student information
A student should not paste an IEP, report card, assessment, full name, school identifier, photo or private family information into a public AI tool. Ontario privacy guidance emphasizes legal authority, transparency, safeguards, accuracy and limits on sharing sensitive information.
Define acceptable assistance
Teachers may set different rules for brainstorming, translation, editing, coding or final submissions. Before using AI, students should ask what is permitted and how assistance must be acknowledged.
- Brainstorm questions rather than requesting a finished assignment.
- Ask for an explanation, then solve a similar problem independently.
- Verify facts with teacher-approved or primary sources.
- Keep drafts that show the student’s own process.
Watch for confident mistakes and bias
An AI response can be incomplete, outdated or fabricated. Students should compare important claims with reliable sources and consider whose perspectives may be missing. The system’s tone is not evidence that an answer is correct.
Preserve independent skills
A useful test is whether the student could explain the answer without the tool. If AI is doing the reading, reasoning and writing, it is replacing the learning task. Balance AI-assisted practice with discussion, books, handwriting, calculation and original creation.
Keep a human decision-maker
AI should not make unreviewed decisions about discipline, ability, placement, grading or support. The 2026 Ontario privacy and human-rights principles call for systems to be reliable, safe, privacy-protective, transparent and accountable.
Official sources
- Ontario IPC and OHRC responsible AI principles
- Ontario IPC generative AI privacy principles
- Ontario IPC digital privacy charter for schools
- Vatican note Antiqua et Nova
Related parent guides
Last reviewed: July 2026. Policies, programs and local procedures can change; confirm current details with the school or organization.