Exploring K-12 Teachers' Perceptions of Students' Relationships with AI Companions: Boundaries, Intervention Strategies, and Design Implications

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2609.13479v1
• Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2026 19:49:06 GMT
• Title: Exploring K-12 Teachers' Perceptions of Students' Relationships with AI Companions: Boundaries, Intervention Strategies, and Design Implications
• Abstract summary: Schools face growing expectations to teach AI literacy, yet existing frameworks treat AI as a tool rather than a relationship.<n>We conducted scenario-based interviews with 33 US K-12 teachers.<n>Teachers welcomed academic companions but worried that intimate companions remove the developmental friction through which students learn to sustain human relationships.
• Score: 14.751647093722399
• License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
• Abstract: K-12 students increasingly form relationships with AI companions. Schools face growing expectations to teach AI literacy, yet existing frameworks treat AI as a tool rather than a relationship, and little is known about how teachers understand and act on students' relational use of AI. We conducted scenario-based interviews with 33 US K-12 teachers. Teachers welcomed academic companions but worried that intimate companions remove the developmental friction through which students learn to sustain human relationships. Teachers drew the boundaries of their jurisdiction by setting and observable wellbeing: within it they taught, talked, and watched; beyond it they positioned themselves as the adults best placed to notice and connect students with support. They envisioned AI companion literacy as shared work across the jurisdictions of counselors, parents, platforms, and policymakers, spiraling across grade levels. We introduce AI companion literacy as an extension of AI literacy and discuss implications for K-12 AI education.

Related papers

• Sycophantic AI makes human interaction feel more effortful and less satisfying over time [41.009652609144794]
  We show that sycophantic AI immediately delivers the emotional and esteem support users typically associate with close friends and family.<n>When given a choice among AI response styles, a majority preferred sycophantic AI -- not for the quality of its advice, but because it made them feel most understood.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2026-05-08T15:50:06Z)
• AI Literacy, Safety Awareness, and STEM Career Aspirations of Australian Secondary Students: Evaluating the Impact of Workshop Interventions [38.350232667249095]
  Deepfakes and other forms of synthetic media pose growing safety risks for adolescents.<n>This study evaluates the impact of Day of AI Australia's workshop-based intervention on Australian secondary students.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2026-01-30T02:55:53Z)
• Artificial Intelligence in Pronunciation Teaching: Use and Beliefs of Foreign Language Teachers [0.0]
  The study involved 117 English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in-service teachers working in Cyprus.<n>Teachers were significantly more likely to agree on the perceived effectiveness of AI and their willingness to adopt it.<n>Teachers who utilized AI more often expressed stronger agreement with its effectiveness.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2025-03-06T06:14:27Z)
• Who is Helping Whom? Student Concerns about AI- Teacher Collaboration in Higher Education Classrooms [8.888004194396643]
  This paper aims to understand how students perceive the implications of AI in Education in terms of classroom collaborative dynamics.<n>We analyzed narratives from 65 participants, highlighting three challenges: AI decontextualizing of the educational context; AI-teacher cooperation with bias concerns and power disparities.<n>We argue that for effective and ethical AI-facilitated cooperative education, future AIEd design must factor in the situated nature of implementation.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2024-12-19T02:35:01Z)
• Exploring Teachers' Perception of Artificial Intelligence: The Socio-emotional Deficiency as Opportunities and Challenges in Human-AI Complementarity in K-12 Education [1.9797215742507548]
  In schools, teachers play a multitude of roles, serving as educators, counselors, decision-makers, and members of the school community. With recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI), there is increasing discussion about how AI can assist, complement, and collaborate with teachers. Our study seeks educators' perspectives on the potential strengths and limitations of AI across a spectrum of responsibilities.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2024-05-20T15:43:04Z)
• Charting the Future of AI in Project-Based Learning: A Co-Design Exploration with Students [35.05435052195561]
  The increasing use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) by students in learning presents new challenges for assessing their learning outcomes. This paper introduces a co-design study to explore the potential of students' AI usage data as a novel material for assessment.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2024-01-26T14:49:29Z)
• Exploring User Perspectives on ChatGPT: Applications, Perceptions, and Implications for AI-Integrated Education [40.38809129759498]
  ChatGPT is most commonly used in the domains of higher education, K-12 education, and practical skills training. On one hand, some users view it as a transformative tool capable of amplifying student self-efficacy and learning motivation. On the other hand, there is a degree of apprehension among concerned users.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2023-05-22T15:13:14Z)
• "Alexa doesn't have that many feelings": Children's understanding of AI through interactions with smart speakers in their homes [0.0]
  Children's understanding of AI-supported technology has educational implications. Findings will enable educators to develop appropriate materials to address the pressing need for AI literacy.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2023-05-09T16:39:34Z)
• The AI Revolution in Education: Will AI Replace or Assist Teachers in Higher Education? [0.0]
  The study provides a comprehensive perspective on the future role of educators in the face of AI technologies. Participants argue that human teachers possess unique qualities, such as critical thinking, creativity, and emotions, which make them irreplaceable. The research proposes that teachers can effectively integrate AI to enhance teaching and learning without viewing it as a replacement.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2023-05-02T03:39:34Z)
• An Experience Report of Executive-Level Artificial Intelligence Education in the United Arab Emirates [53.04281982845422]
  We present an experience report of teaching an AI course to business executives in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Rather than focusing only on theoretical and technical aspects, we developed a course that teaches AI with a view to enabling students to understand how to incorporate it into existing business processes.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2022-02-02T20:59:53Z)
• Building Bridges: Generative Artworks to Explore AI Ethics [56.058588908294446]
  In recent years, there has been an increased emphasis on understanding and mitigating adverse impacts of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies on society. A significant challenge in the design of ethical AI systems is that there are multiple stakeholders in the AI pipeline, each with their own set of constraints and interests. This position paper outlines some potential ways in which generative artworks can play this role by serving as accessible and powerful educational tools.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2021-06-25T22:31:55Z)
• Creation and Evaluation of a Pre-tertiary Artificial Intelligence (AI) Curriculum [58.86139968005518]
  The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)-Jockey Club AI for the Future Project (AI4Future) co-created an AI curriculum for pre-tertiary education. A team of 14 professors with expertise in engineering and education collaborated with 17 principals and teachers from 6 secondary schools to co-create the curriculum. The co-creation process generated a variety of resources which enhanced the teachers knowledge in AI, as well as fostered teachers autonomy in bringing the subject matter into their classrooms.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2021-01-19T11:26:19Z)

This list is automatically generated from the titles and abstracts of the papers in this site.

This site does not guarantee the quality of this site (including all information) and is not responsible for any consequences.