The use of AI in education that lacks evidential and scientific rigour puts children’s learning development at risk, according to a new white paper from Explore Learning.

While acknowledging the huge opportunity provided by AI, the report also highlights the risks of overreliance, including reduced critical thinking and cognitive fixation, and the potential for the technology to undermine confidence and inhibit the development of self-regulation in younger learners.

The report details best practices for implementing AI in education. It advocates for this technology to be grounded in educational theory to provide a richer, more accurate understanding of a child’s current learning level, enabling true personalised learning.

With the UK education system facing significant structural challenges amid increasing pressure to meet the diverse needs of its students, the white paper finds that a blended approach of technology combined with human educators can provide critical support.

As the government takes an increasingly active role in shaping AI’s integration into education, the report is a timely contribution to the discussion on the key issues affecting the future of learning in the UK.

Support for the 1.7 million children with SEND in the UK is already at capacity, as Explore Learning saw, with a 35% increase in children with SEND accessing its tuition in 2025 compared to 2024. The white paper outlines the significant potential of evidence-based systems to bridge the support gap through early signal detection, adaptive scaffolding, and pattern recognition across populations.

While technology demonstrates strong positive effects on foundational skills, it risks eroding the higher-order cognition that education exists to develop.

Humans must lead in areas where AI poses risks; no algorithm is perfect, and human involvement is critical to mitigate the impact of false positives and negatives.

The most effective EdTechs recognise technology’s limitations and position themselves as augmenting, not replacing, human relationships.

While the influx of investment from venture capital (VC) funds has stimulated innovation, the 5-7-year return most VCs expect does not support responsible development, which requires patience and rigour.

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This can put pressure on product tech teams to demonstrate immediate, measurable impact. This results in “metric fixation”; the reduction of education to easily quantifiable outcomes.

“The UK’s education system is under greater pressure than ever, and AI has significant potential to alleviate these challenges, but only when backed by strong evidence and proven to improve outcomes, with the same rigour we expect of any educational intervention,” Lisa Haycox, CEO, Explore Learning, said.

“The research is clear: poorly designed tools risk a mirage of false mastery, where short-term gains disappear when the technology is removed.

“We cannot forfeit children’s futures for hype, and we should continue to encourage healthy debate to guard against this, while embracing the full potential of transformative technology. At Explore Learning, our approach is built on a foundational conviction: personalisation requires a genuine understanding of each learner.”