Given education’s critical role in human development, it’s imperative that any use of generative AI to boost the teaching and learning process for students be done in a way that is thoughtful and collaborative.

That’s why Google for Education prioritizes the input of teachers, students, parents and administrators when leveraging generative AI capabilities and features.

Listening to our communities to better understand their needs allows us to create more helpful products that truly benefit students and educators. To help do that, we partnered with Google’s Responsible AI (RAI) and Technology & Society research teams to engage with high school students and their parents to learn how generative AI is shaping their learning experience.

Here are some things parents and students told us about how generative AI supports their learning:

1. Real-time feedback for parents. By providing an up-to-the-minute window into how their children are doing in their coursework, parents can intervene more quickly where needed, understand where they might be pushing too hard, and know where they should put their focus in the future.
2. Enhanced learning about unfamiliar subjects. Generative AI can supplement classroom instruction to help students go deeper and gain additional context around subjects that are new to them.
3. Customized pathways for people with learning differences. Generative AI can customize a number of learning pathways as it analyzes an individual’s learning patterns and personalizes educational material that takes cognitive abilities into account.

Teachers will always be the heart of the classroom

While generative AI is poised to play a pivotal role in education, human educators remain irreplaceable. Generative AI can enhance learning, without undermining it, which is why guardrails and transparency are key to making generative AI the powerful tool that it promises to be for education.

Keeping the “teacher in the loop” is core to how Google for Education builds and designs its products, informing the features we choose and the safeguards we put in place. We will always prioritize our collaboration with educators and schools by maintaining a tight feedback loop with users throughout our development process.

With generative AI at their side, teachers will be able to better serve students with a wide range of diverse needs and preferences, saving them time on administrative tasks and ultimately helping them focus on what they do best: inspiring and challenging students, using their experience and soft skills like listening and empathy to create a haven where minds are opened and curiosity can thrive. When the best teachers are paired with the best tools, their students become unstoppable.

As one student in our research said, “Teachers always make sure I am okay, that I have the best mindset for the class. I think I couldn’t do it without them. I’d probably be in a whole different place right now.”