The professor of chemistry María Intecipped misses the good old days – last year – when her small school in rural Colombia was sheltered from the revolution of artificial intelligence by her distance.
José Gregorio Salas Rural High School, where she works, lacks enough computers and reliable internet. Few students can afford high -end smartphones or data plans whose high -end AI requires.
Inteented had heard of Chatgpt, but from what she could say, few of her students used it. In 2025, some began to whisper to get the help of “Lucia”. She thought it could be the name of a tutor, but they refer to the Luzia applicationwhich transforms the WhatsApp messaging application into an AI bot.
Then, last year, the AI metastasé to almost all classes. School teachers noticed an increase in unusually high quality responses that did not look like their students typical. Duties and trials suddenly included scholarly arguments, a sophisticated vocabulary and points that had not been taught in class or in manuals.
“When I attribute my homework, students simply use AI,” said Intetencipa Rest of the world. “Because it's easier.”
Despite the break -up, more children have failed, the teachers said.
From July 2025, AI was suddenly everywhere in Latin America after metal platforms started to incorporate Chatbots in its applications in the region. Whether users wish them or not, Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram have become houses for a variety of AI robots.
The students of the Rural Lycée José Gregorio Salas put them to work on their homework. This small community of families of agriculture and breeding was no longer protected from the AI revolution, which was disrupt education global. He could no longer escape because the new robots were integrated into the applications that everyone used. Meta had refined applications for the emerging market consumer, which makes them less expensive to use and design them to work with less sophisticated phones and uneven connectivity.
Chatgpt, the pioneer generative IA chatbot of Openai, is dominant in the United States, but for many students in Colombia, Meta AI levels have become essential robots. Meta has a controversial Agreement with telecommunications companies This limits some users on cheaper data plans to use specific applications and sites, including those of Meta.
Inteiscipa and other teachers in Colombia fear that their students allow years of basic education, because traditional teaching methods are no longer effective.
“Here, Facebook is the king,” said Luisa Cárdenas, professor of social sciences in Quimbaya, in the Colombia region Rest of the world. His students “simply copy what's going on in the cat, but they are not able to analyze what they reproduced.”
Some are even graduates without mastering how to read and write, she said.
Even before this powerful cheating tool arrives, Colombia faced enormous educational challenges.
Only 54 out of 100 students complete the high school, and among these, only 11 reach acceptable levels in critical reading, mathematics and natural sciences, according to to the observatory of educational realities at Icesi University.
Colombian students classified In creative thought among countries evaluated by the organization of economic cooperation and the development program for the evaluation of international students.
Students say the shortcut is too tempting and easy to take. This helps them to avoid the monotony of little exciting lessons and to save more time to engage with real people, often on the same applications where they meet robots. “I ask for everything,” said Sergio, a 16 -year -old student Rest of the world. “When they give me a mission, I do research and I copy. I don't read or anything. Sometimes I wondered if what it tells me is true, but it helps me save time.”
An growing set of research suggests that the abusive use or the overuse of AI can harm children.
In April, a report From Common Sense Media, a non -profit organization that is looking for and promotes healthier digital environments for young people, said that AI tools pose “unacceptable risks” for users under the age of 18, because some are designed to promote emotional dependence. AI tools can also provide dangerous information and sometimes bad advice, depending on the report.
A June study From the Massachusetts Institute of Technology suggested that, although large languages have been useful in writing trials, dependence on them could reduce cognitive activity.
AI can be a precious tool for some of the repetitive tasks that overworked teachers are required to play.
A World Economic Forum report Since last year, the said generative can help personalize learning experiences and reduce the time that teachers spend routine tasks, allowing them to spend more time to students.
Colombian teachers use tools like Twinkl and Eduaide.ai to access pre-designed materials and help with tasks such as notation and end of forms. Some of them also use Chatgpt or Google's Gemini for various tasks. This helps to lighten the burden of teachers who can manage more than 100 students each week in several classes. Google broadcasts advertisements on Facebook and Instagram, promoting its Gemini chatbot as a time saving tool for teachers and students.
The Colombian government says it promotes a safe and progressive use of AI.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Education of Colombia said Rest of the world that in primary school, AI must be used in a “limited” and “always accompanied adults”, while in high school, chatbots can be useful “as long as critical reflection is promoted”.
The neighbor of Colombia, Brazil, prohibited The use of mobile phones in classrooms. A study By the government of the city of Rio de Janeiro, led after six months without mobile phones in schools, has found improvements in the participation, performance and concentration of students.
Inteented said that she did not need a formal study to know that AI slows down its students.
“If I give them a research mission, they look at him up there,” she said, referring to the robots AI in Meta's applications. “If I ask for an opinion, they do the same.”
This obliges teachers to rethink evaluation methods. Traditional assessment approaches based on written assignments must now be reconsidered to assess with precision if students really understand concepts, develop skills and engage in creative thought, Luisa González-Reiche, expert in pedagogy and philosophy, told Rest of the world.
Educators are now spending a significant quantity of their time detecting the work generated by AI and seeking ways to assess whether students develop essential skills.
Some turn to the writing of AI detection tools. Some administer more oral and handwritten exams. Some ask students to discuss, defend and verbally describe how they looked for their articles.
In Guatavita, a small town near Bogotá, professor of philosophy and religion, Byron Giral, uses a role -playing game to encourage commitment.
He chooses a complex and hyperlocal subject that AI probably does not know. He then had the debate on students, each acting as a local mayor, business manager, priest and other stakeholders.
Students work together, laugh, blush and sometimes become noisy, he said, but few look at their phones.
“As it is an oral exercise, they must use critical thinking,” said Giral Rest of the world. “If I only asked written work, it would be very difficult to determine that they learn.”
The professor of chemistry Inteiencipa has made the radical decision to abandon a pillar of secondary school prices for generations: homework.
She makes students do all their studies and work Before her to make sure they answer with their minds.
“Now I keep all my work in class,” she said.