US Teacher Survey: 83% Use AI Tools, but 94% Worry About Impact on Learning

TPT's July 2026 survey of 7,345 US educators found 83% have used AI tools for school tasks, mainly for creating instructional resources (60.2%), brainstorming (42%), and reducing administrative workload (41.5%). Meanwhile, 94% are at least somewhat concerned about AI's overall impact on student progress, with top concerns being critical thinking (82.5%), cheating (56.5%), and writing skills (50.1%). 76.8% feel optimistic about the new school year, but 61% cite students' social-emotional needs as the biggest challenge.

The survey reveals US teachers' ambivalence toward AI: they widely use AI to reduce administrative burden but worry about its impact on critical thinking and writing skills. This attitude will influence AI education product design, pushing products to assist teachers rather than replace them and emphasize human review. Meanwhile, social-emotional needs becoming the top challenge suggests AI tools may need to incorporate emotional support features. AI education products need to strengthen human review and teacher involvement to alleviate concerns about AI's impact on learning abilities. Increased focus on social-emotional needs may drive development of AI tools with emotional support features.