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Built for classrooms, not companionship. Learn how student-facing AI can support learning while keeping teachers at the center.
AI is becoming part of everyday learning for students. Across classrooms, the use of AI in schools is expanding as students brainstorm ideas, get feedback on their work, and explore new concepts. When designed for classrooms, student-facing AI can support learning in meaningful, age-appropriate ways.
At the same time, district leaders, educators, and families are right to ask tough questions about how these tools are built, how students experience them, and how to approach the responsible use of ai in education.
As AI becomes more conversational, the line between learning support and something more personal can start to blur. The question isn’t whether the use of AI belongs in schools, but how to ensure AI supports learning while keeping clear, healthy boundaries for students.
How student-facing AI can drift toward companionship
Students are still developing critical social and emotional skills. They’re learning how to navigate disagreement, manage frustration, collaborate with others, and build confidence through real interactions with peers, teachers, and trusted adults.
AI tools are always available, consistently responsive, and unaffected by emotion or context. When student-facing AI is designed to feel personal or human-like, it can shift how students understand the role of technology and where they turn for support.
The concern is rarely tied to a single interaction, but it builds gradually over time.
Repeated experiences that encourage emotional validation or extended conversation can change how students engage with AI. In school settings, this raises important questions about developmental appropriateness, responsibility, and student well-being.
For schools, the goal isn’t to remove AI from learning, but to develop a responsible approach to AI in the classroom and to make sure AI stays in its lane as a learning tool.
What role should AI play in classrooms?
Student-facing AI works best when its purpose is clear.
In schools, AI should function as instructional software. It should support academic tasks, reinforce learning, and help students build skills, while keeping teachers at the center of instruction and support.
Many consumer AI tools are designed to maximize engagement. Schools have different priorities. They need tools that are transparent and built with boundaries that reflect classroom use.
When AI behaves clearly as a tool, students learn how to use it responsibly. They practice questioning outputs, applying feedback, and building AI literacy alongside academic skills. Clear boundaries protect students while reinforcing the human relationships that matter most in learning environments.
How MagicSchool designs student-facing AI for schools
At MagicSchool, student safety and instructional clarity guide every decision we make.
Our student-facing AI tools are built to support learning, not to simulate relationships. They act as tutors and learning supports that help students practice skills, explore ideas, and receive feedback in ways that are appropriate for school use.
This approach shows up throughout our platform:
- AI interactions stay focused on learning tasks
- Language reinforces that AI is a tool, not a person
- Teachers control how and when students use AI
- Conversations are intentionally bounded
We also continuously monitor how tools are used in real classrooms. Automated evaluations and human review help us identify early signs of boundary drift and strengthen safeguards as research and best practices continue to evolve.
Strengthening student safety: MagicSchool updates
As part of our commitment to building the safest AI tools in education, we’ve updated our student-facing AI experiences globally to reflect emerging standards for responsible AI in schools.
Character Chatbot updates
Teachers now confirm the pedagogical purpose of Character Chatbot activities before assigning them to students, reinforcing that AI roleplay should be time-limited and learning-focused. Students also see a clear opening message reminding them they're engaging with a simulation, not a real person, helping set appropriate expectations from the start.
The AI Learning Assistant
We've retired the "Raina" persona from our student chatbot in favor of a neutral AI Learning Assistant. This change removes anthropomorphic elements, like named characters and personality-driven language, that could blur the line between AI tools and human relationships. The updated assistant uses clear, function-based language that keeps the focus on learning rather than building a sense of connection with the technology itself.
Together, these updates reflect our belief that AI in education should support learning without encouraging emotional reliance or misrepresenting what AI actually is. We'll continue evolving our platform as research and best practices develop.
Learn more about responsible student-facing AI
We recently published Safe Student-Facing AI: Mitigating Companionship Risks in Schools, a white paper that explores how companionship risks can emerge and what schools should expect from student-facing AI tools.
If you’re thinking about how to introduce AI responsibly while keeping teachers and students at the center, we’d love to share what we’ve learned.
