Cybersecurity Policy Report, Report: AI in Schools Increases Data Breach, Ransomware Risks, (Oct 17, 2025)
By Lynn Stanton
Data breaches, ransomware attacks, and tech-enabled sexual harassment and bullying linked to deep fakes and nonconsensual intimate imagery (NCII) are among the emerging risks associated with the growing use of artificial intelligence (AI) in schools, according to a recent report from the Center for Democracy & Technology.
The report, titled Hand in Hand: Schools’ Embrace of AI Connected to Increased Risk to Students, also cites “AI systems that do not work as intended” and “[t]roubling interactions between students and technology” as emerging risks from AI in schools.
For students, the variety of ways in which individuals use AI in school is distributed with a third in each of the following categories: “few” (zero to one “ways”), “some” (two to three ways), and “many” (four to six ways), according to the report. Forty percent of teachers use AI in “some” ways (three to six ways).
Of teachers who used AI for many school purposes, 28% reported that their school had experienced a large-scale data breach in the 2024-2025 school year, while only 18% of those using AI for few school purposes reported a large-scale data breach at their school, the report says.
The report found parents (at 67%) and students (at 49%) more concerned about student data privacy and security than teachers (at 35%).
Although teachers who use AI for fewer school-related reasons are more likely to cite concerns about AI use, 71% across all use categories cited the additional burden created in understanding whether a student’s work was their own, 39% across all use categories said AI was more of a distraction than an enhancement to education, and 28% across all use categories said AI was more time consuming than helpful.
The report also cites risks that AI use could “potentially run afoul of federal disability and privacy laws.”
“Identifying the concrete risks that accompany the use of AI in schools enables educators, school administrators, policymakers, and communities to mount prevention and response efforts such that the positive uses of AI do not inadvertently harm students,” the report says.
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