For many educators, the arrival of artificial intelligence in schools can feel a little like the opening scene of a Star Wars film: a powerful new force has entered the galaxy, it is expanding quickly and everyone is trying to figure out what it means for everyday life in the classroom. In only a few short years, AI has moved from the edges of education into familiar tools and daily routines, shaping how students research, write, create and receive feedback. Like any force with great power, AI brings both possibility and uncertainty. It can support efficiency, creativity and access, but it also raises important questions about bias, privacy, accuracy, academic integrity and student learning. In this new reality, teacher-librarians are uniquely positioned to help school communities stay grounded. As members of the Rebel Alliance, teacher-librarians today are crucial guides and co-pilots—helping students and staff navigate AI with curiosity, critical thinking and a strong commitment to ethical practice.

What is Generative AI?

Many educators are still sorting out the difference between artificial intelligence and generative AI, and the distinction matters.

Artificial intelligence is the broader term. It refers to systems that simulate aspects of human intelligence, such as recognizing patterns, making predictions or responding to spoken commands. In practice, educators and students have been using AI for years through tools like voice assistants (e.g. Google Assistant, Siri, Alexa) and recommendation systems used by various platforms (e.g. Netflix, Amazon, Spotify).

Generative AI, by contrast, is a specific type of AI that creates new content. It can generate text, images, video, slide decks and other media based on prompts from a user. This is the form of AI that is now becoming most visible in education, especially in tasks related to writing, brainstorming, feedback and content creation.

Key Concerns About Generative AI

Generative AI raises a range of concerns that extend well beyond the classroom. Among the most significant are:

• its environmental impact;
• the spread of misinformation and disinformation;
• the growth of AI-generated art, music and writing without proper respect for original creators;
• the often-hidden labour that supports AI systems behind the scenes.

Academic Integrity in Classroom Assessments

In education, however, the most immediate concern is academic integrity. Teachers and school library professionals have long helped students learn how to produce original work, cite sources properly and respect the ideas and creations of others. Generative AI adds a new layer of complexity to that work. As a result, many educators are asking how to address this type of academic misconduct and whether schools should slow the adoption of these tools until they are better understood. 

As student use of generative AI becomes more common, some teachers may feel drawn into a cycle of trying to detect or prove when AI has been used in assignments. Teachers have quickly discovered that this approach is difficult to sustain. AI-generated responses cannot be reliably searched, and AI-detection tools are widely recognized as inconsistent and unreliable.

Rather than focusing only on catching misuse, schools and educators may need to rethink how they approach assessment, evaluation and transparency around AI use. This shift raises an important question: What role can school library professionals play in helping educators respond thoughtfully to this new reality?

The AI Teaching Librarian Era

Our schools and school boards need school librarians now more than ever to assist in navigating the new reality of AI in education and they are perfectly suited for the role. Just as school librarians have long helped students build traditional and digital media literacies, they now have a vital role to play in shaping AI literacy as well. With regards to academic integrity, here are just some of the ways that school librarians are supporting their students and staff:

• Teaching the Basics of AI: Librarians help students and teachers understand how AI works and how to use it well, which includes direct teaching of prompt engineering. They can also show how AI can support brainstorming, editing, research and creative work.
• Creating Guidelines and Expectations: In collaboration with school administrators and other educators, librarians can help schools create clear guidelines for AI use that fit the school’s values and respond to community concerns.
• Strengthening Academic Honesty: Librarians support schools in teaching students how to use AI honestly and responsibly. This includes showing students how to credit AI when needed and helping them think carefully about how they use it in their work. 
• Supporting Teaching and Learning: Librarians can help teachers use AI in ways that support student learning and improve classroom practice.

Sadly, despite the many ways teacher-librarians support AI literacy in schools, they still remain a critically underappreciated resource in general.

Transparency is Key

We know that students are using GenAI to complete their assignments, whether they will admit it or not. Therefore, when we raise concerns about academic integrity and AI use with our students, transparency is crucial. If students use AI, whether it is to brainstorm ideas, create an outline or rewrite a paragraph, it is important that students cite it. Students need to learn the importance of being honest about the use of AI, which AI they are using and why it is important. Both MLA and APA citation styles now include proper formatting for citing AI. Furthermore, Ontario’s Responsible Use of Artificial Intelligence Directive outlines six principles to support the use of AI, one of them being “AI use is transparent and meaningful explanations of decisions are made available.”

Furthermore, if we are asking students to be transparent, it is equally important that teachers are transparent as well. Not just in the use of AI for their own teaching purposes, but also in clearly setting boundaries and guidelines for students to know which assignments they allow AI use or not, and to what extent.

We’ll Just Go Back to Paper & Pen Assessments

Several teachers have reverted to older pedagogical practices to assist in maintaining academic integrity and to ensure that the work students are submitting is their own. This includes students writing in-class essays, reflecting on their own personal work or doing oral presentations. These pedagogical practices are not wrong, but they clearly point to the lack of guidance and time teachers have available to address the growing concerns around assessment, evaluation and AI. It is easy to go back to what we know and what we can control.

However, the reality is that we can no longer keep our heads in the sand, avoiding the use of generative AI and believing that reverting to older teaching methods are the answers to this pressing problem. If we believe that our students’ success in the future involves having AI literacy and AI skills in this ever-changing world, then we must embrace this new reality, as uncertain as it may seem, and find ways to implement the use of AI ethically and carefully with our students. AI isn’t going away; as the past four years have shown, it will only continue to get better and smarter. If we avoid it, we will simply fall behind, more than we already are, in understanding this new power that is at our fingertips.

The Ethical Choice

It is easy to jump on the GenAI bandwagon now that it has infiltrated the educational galaxy. Everywhere you look, teachers are bombarded with new AI tools and webinars hosted by other educators on the use of AI in their classrooms. It is making lesson planning and worksheet creation easy – why not go along for the ride? 

One thing teachers and school librarians need to be mindful of is student choice when it comes to AI. Our intentions may be genuine in wanting to implement AI in the classroom to help students in their learning or to give them the skills we feel they need for the future. However, in my experience working with students, I have learned that not all of them are aligned with the use of AI as individuals. There are students who are completely against the use of AI and do not wish to use it, even if given permission by teachers. In speaking with a university professor at York University, they are noticing an equal divide among their student population of students who wish to use it and those who don’t. If we want to use AI ethically in education, then respecting student choice must remain part of the conversation.

In conclusion, generative AI is not a passing trend or a distant disturbance in the Force. It is already reshaping teaching, learning and the ways students create and show what they know. That is exactly why school librarians matter so much at this moment. They help school communities move beyond fear or hype and toward the thoughtful, ethical and transparent use of these tools. Like trusted guides in a changing galaxy, teacher-librarians can help students and educators ask better questions, make wiser choices and stay grounded in the values that matter most: curiosity, honesty, critical thinking and care for others. If schools hope to use AI wisely, then school librarians should not be standing on the sidelines. They should be right at the center of the mission, helping ensure that as this new force grows stronger, it is used for good.

Practical Frameworks and Guidance Documents for AI

Here is a brief list of practical frameworks and guidance documents for educators and school librarians to reference:

• 4ETFO Artificial Intelligence in Education
• OASBO/ENCO Generative AI Resources and Guidelines
• OFT/FEO Generative Artificial Intelligence in K-12 Ontario Education
• The Canadian Teacher’s Federation (CTF) Legislative and Policy Scan
• TeachAI’s AI Guidance for Schools Toolkit
• AILit Framework
• Common Sense Education’s AI Literacy Lessons for Grades 6–12

Sidebar: 5 Questions to Ask Before Adopting an AI Tool

Before bringing any AI tool into the classroom or the Library Learning Commons, school librarians and teachers should pause and ask:

1. What problem is this tool actually helping us solve? AI should support a clear learning goal, not simply be used because it is new or popular. 
2. How does this tool protect student privacy and data? Educators need to know what information is collected, stored or shared before students use it.
3. Is the tool accurate, fair and appropriate for student learning? AI tools can produce errors or biased results, so it is important to evaluate their reliability and inclusiveness.
4. How will this tool support learning without replacing student thinking? The goal should be to strengthen creativity, understanding and critical thinking rather than reduce opportunities for original thought.
5. What expectations do we need to set for transparency and responsible use? Students and staff need clear guidance about when AI use is allowed, how to acknowledge it and what ethical use looks like in practice.