Education Should Embrace AI But Acknowledge Its Limitations

Artificial intelligence is moving rapidly from a futuristic concept to an everyday presence in classrooms, workplaces and the creative industries.

For educators, the question is no longer whether students will encounter AI tools, but how we help them understand and use them responsibly.

Across the screen industries in particular, AI is already influencing how stories are developed, how images are produced, and how media content is created. Students entering careers in film, media and digital production will increasingly encounter AI as part of normal professional practice.

Education therefore faces an important choice. We can attempt to resist AI and treat it purely as a threat to learning, or we can help students understand how to use it critically, creatively and responsibly. In my view, the latter approach is the only realistic one.

AI can be an extraordinarily useful tool for learning and creativity. In film, media and other creative subjects, teachers are already exploring ways to use AI constructively in the classroom.

Students might use AI tools to visualise characters, generate mood boards, experiment with set design or develop storyboards for film ideas. In pre-production planning, AI can help learners test concepts and explore different creative directions.

Used thoughtfully, this can unlock imagination and help students develop ideas more quickly. AI can also function as a kind of thinking partner, enabling learners to explore alternative perspectives, test narrative structures or refine creative concepts.

However, embracing AI does not mean accepting it uncritically.

Artificial intelligence systems are powerful, but they are not always reliable or trusted sources of information.

They can generate convincing answers that are inaccurate or misleading. Many users will have encountered what is often referred to as “hallucination”, where AI produces information that appears authoritative, but is simply wrong.

For students growing up in a digital world increasingly shaped by synthetic media, understanding this fallibility is essential. AI outputs must be scrutinised, interpreted and verified rather than accepted at face value.

This makes critical thinking more important than ever. In the age of AI, students need the ability to question information, assess credibility and evaluate the reliability of sources. Rather than replacing analytical thinking, AI should encourage learners to interrogate information more carefully.

The rise of AI-generated misinformation adds further urgency to this challenge. Deepfakes, manipulated media and synthetic content are becoming more sophisticated and easier to produce.

When misleading information spreads online, the consequences can be significant, particularly for young people who may not yet have developed the tools to recognise it.

Education therefore has a vital role in helping students become not only creative producers of media, but also critically informed consumers. Media literacy and digital ethics must sit alongside technical skills as central elements of modern learning.

For teachers, this moment requires curiosity as well as caution. AI technologies are evolving rapidly and educators need opportunities to learn about them, experiment with them and understand how they might support learning.

Professional development and open discussion will be essential if schools are to navigate this change confidently.

This is one of the motivations behind the AI in Screen Education conference co-organised by Eduqas in Greenwich, bringing together educators, researchers and industry practitioners to explore how artificial intelligence is influencing both creative practice and education.

Events such as this highlight the importance of dialogue between the classroom and the industries students hope to enter.

It is increasingly clear that education must keep pace with technological change.

Preparing students for these environments means equipping them with the creative, analytical and ethical skills needed to work alongside these technologies.

Ultimately, the goal of education has not changed. We want learners to think critically, communicate effectively and engage thoughtfully with the world around them.

Artificial intelligence does not replace those aims. If anything, it makes them even more important.

AI should therefore be understood as a tool, one that can enhance creativity, support exploration and stimulate discussion when used thoughtfully. But like any powerful tool, as I have said earlier, it must be used with care.

The task for educators is not simply to allow or forbid AI, but to help students understand it.

If young people can learn to question its outputs, recognise its limitations and use it responsibly, then artificial intelligence can become a valuable partner in learning rather than a shortcut that undermines it.