How to Talk to Students About AI - Even When You’re Not an Expert

Our role isn’t to stay ahead of every new tool. It’s to help students make sense of them, with integrity and insight.

This post is part of a series exploring how schools can integrate AI meaningfully, ethically and strategically. Written in response to the UAE’s national AI in education mandate, it offers insights and strategies for educators across all curricula and contexts, from Dubai to Dublin, Delhi to Durban and everywhere in between.

Subscribers will also receive exclusive access to linked CPD tools, classroom frameworks, and planning resources, just like in the John Hattie series.

You don’t have to know everything to start the conversation

Teachers around the world are being asked to guide students in using AI responsibly. But many educators worry they don’t know enough to lead that conversation. The truth is, you don’t have to be an expert. You just need to be present.

AI isn’t just a technical issue. It’s a human one. Students need space to ask questions, challenge assumptions, and explore ideas. What they need most from us is not perfect answers, but trusted adults who will think things through with them.

What students are already asking

In classrooms where AI is openly discussed, the questions are powerful:

• Can I use ChatGPT for homework?

• Is it cheating if I edit what it gives me?

• How do I know if something is biased?

• Could this replace my job one day?

These aren’t just questions about tools. They’re questions about ethics, identity, truth, fairness, and the future. That’s why this conversation belongs in every subject, not just in tech lessons.

Where to begin: three anchor points

You can guide rich, age-appropriate discussions with just three questions.

1. What can this tool do? - Begin with curiosity. Explore its capabilities such as summarising, editing, creating, and predicting. Ask students what they notice.

2. What should it be used for? - Shift to values. Ask how they’d feel if someone used it in different ways. What would be fair? What would be misleading?

3. How will we use it in this classroom - Make it local. Co-create norms with students about how AI will, and will not, be part of their learning.

These three layers, capability, values, and classroom use, work just as well with 10-year-olds as they do with 17-year-olds. The language changes. The trust-building doesn’t.

What teachers are noticing in real classrooms

A Year 6 teacher I was speaking to recently had introduced ChatGPT by asking students to run the same research prompt they had used the week before. Then the class compared the results. What was missing? What was new? What seemed off? The students quickly spotted gaps and inaccuracies. The conversation shifted naturally to when we trust tools, how we check information, and who decides what is true.

Another teacher described it this way: “I thought I needed to be ahead of the technology. But it turns out I just needed to be beside the students.”

These moments matter. We don’t need to predict every tool or trend. What students need is our curiosity, our care, and our willingness to think things through with them.

Why some caution matters

Students may assume AI tools are always accurate, when in fact they sometimes make up facts or reflect hidden bias. Reminding students that not everything the tool generates is reliable is part of the learning. That’s why these conversations matter.

Useful Links

• OECD (2023) – Skill Needs and Policies in the Age of Artificial Intelligence - A global report on how education systems can prepare students for AI-driven futures with ethics, critical thinking, and adaptability at the core. Read the full report

• Center for Humane Technology – Youth Toolkit - A practical, student-facing guide that helps teachers open meaningful discussions about AI use, responsibility, and digital wellbeing. Explore the toolkit

Reflective questions for your setting

• Are students already using AI without structured guidance in your school?

• How can you frame AI as a thinking tool, not a shortcut?

• Where can these conversations take place – in form time, subjects, or projects?

AI in Education Blog Series – Full List

This 4-week series explores how schools can embed AI meaningfully, ethically, and strategically across curriculum, CPD, leadership, and inclusion. New posts are published four times a week throughout June and July 2025.

Week 1: Orientation – Understanding the Shift

1. Why AI in Schools Is a Pedagogical Shift, Not a Tech Trend

2. How to Talk to Students About AI (Even When You’re Not an Expert) (You are here)

3. Bridging the Gap: What Parents and Teachers Need to Understand About AI

4. How Ready Is Your School for AI? A Leadership Reflection

Week 2: Teaching, Equity and Ethics

5. Planning with AI Without Losing Professional Judgement

6. Can We Really Teach Ethics in AI? Yes – Here’s How

7. What Inclusive AI Use Looks Like in EAL and SEND Contexts

8. Keeping Students Safe: The New Rules of AI and Safeguarding

Week 3: Teaching Across Subjects

9. Reimagining Reading and Writing: AI in English and Arabic

10. AI in Math and Science: From Calculation to Simulation

11. What Happens to Critical Thinking When AI Can Summarise?

12. Creativity and Authenticity in the Age of AI

Week 4: Strategy, Assessment and Future Readiness

13. What Every School Needs Before Saying “We Use AI”

14. Why CPD on AI Should Start with Questions, Not Tools

15. What Does “AI Literacy” Really Mean, and How Do We Know Students Are Gaining It?

16. From Pilot to Policy: Embedding AI in the School Development Plan