88% of US parents see AI as essential to their children's education – survey

In the last year, a flood of artificial intelligence (AI) learning tools and capabilities have entered the educational landscape — many of which are geared toward personalizing students’ learning experiences and helping educators support them. Now, parents are taking notice of AI’s potential impact on their children’s educations and are becoming increasingly invested in the technology’s deployment in the classroom. 

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A new survey commissioned by Samsung Solve for Tomorrow — titled “Future-Proofing Education: How AI is Shaping Learning for Gen Alpha & Gen Z” — reported that “88% of parents believe knowledge of AI will be crucial in their child’s future education and career.”

However, the Morning Consult survey also noted, “81% of parents either don’t believe or are not sure that AI is even part of their children’s curriculum.” 

These juxtaposing stats expose a widening disparity between parents’ hopes for increasing AI education and the need for more accessible knowledge about how that technology is being incorporated. 

To better understand how AI “is being taught and utilized in education, more than 1,000 US parents of Gen Alpha and Gen Z students were polled.” The resulting data, the survey noted, highlights an “urgent need to ramp up student education and teacher professional development” around AI use and well-rounded school curricula that properly weigh the pros and cons of AI implementation. 

Ann Woo, head of corporate citizenship for Samsung North America, noted that the purpose of the survey was to showcase “the importance of narrowing the AI gap in education by equipping students, educators, and parents with the knowledge and tools they need to navigate the impact of this transformative technology.”

The survey provided insights into parents’ perception of AI use in the classroom — including the importance of training teachers on how to properly deploy emerging tools such as generative AI (gen AI). An overwhelming majority (84%), “believe it is important or very important to offer teachers extra training on how to incorporate AI into the classroom.” 

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Also, 69% of parents are “optimistic” about AI’s capabilities in advancing the learning experiences of students specifically by assisting with content creation; 72% believe AI can be useful for answering students’ questions; and 70% envision AI simulating real-world scenarios in the classroom. 

However, among the 19% of parents who report that AI is already being used in their child’s curriculum, 40% “are unsure of how AI is being deployed and 41% state AI is not being used.”

“To prevent disparities in AI access and ensure the next generation can use AI responsibly and effectively,” Woo added, “It’s essential that all those involved in children’s education are well-informed as AI becomes increasingly integrated into learning environments and STEM initiatives like Samsung Solve for Tomorrow.”