Review of A New Direction for Students in an AI World: Prosper, Prepare, Protect

MARCH 12, 2026

Cautionary Brookings Report Attempts to Weigh Opportunities and Risks of Generative AI in Education

An NEPC Review funded by the Great Lakes Center

Key Takeaway: Report will help readers wrap their minds around issues concerning generative AI in education, but it provides little help in selecting and evaluating options for ensuring that AI is used to benefit rather than harm young people's well-being.

GRAND RAPIDS, MI (MARCH 12, 2026) - A recent Brookings Institution report synthesizes findings from a year-long study of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in education, concluding that its potential harms to young people's learning and development currently outweigh its benefits.

In his review of A New Direction for Students in an AI World: Prosper, Prepare, Protect , University of Colorado Boulder professor William R. Penuel found it to be a useful tool to anticipate potential benefits and harms of AI but found it weaker in offering any clear blueprint for changing the trajectory of AI in education.

The report identifies three focus areas for action: promoting AI tools that support evidence-informed pedagogies; developing holistic AI literacy; and advancing trustworthy AI tool design, governance, and guidelines that prioritize safety, privacy, and healthy development.

The report's strength lies in its breadth of perspectives and research. It provides decision makers with a wide range of ideas. But it offers little help in selecting and evaluating options for ensuring that AI is used to benefit rather than harm young people's well-being. Also, it does not systematically weigh evidence by quality or type, leaving readers to draw divergent conclusions. More concerning, decision makers are presented with numerous recommendations but minimal guidance on how to evaluate or implement them, including little clarity about which stakeholders should carry out its 12 proposed actions.

Ultimately, Professor Penuel concludes, the report serves as a useful overview of the complex issues surrounding generative AI in education, though its impact is constrained by a reluctance to decisively assess whether future benefits can meaningfully outweigh current risks.

Find the review, written by William R. Penuel, at:

https://www.greatlakescenter.org

Find A New Direction for Students in an AI World: Prosper, Prepare, Protect , written by Mary Burns, Rebecca Winthrop, Natasha Luther, Emma Venetis, and Rida Karim and published by the Brookings Institution, at: https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/A-New-Direction-for-Students-in-an-AI-World-FULL-REPORT.pdf

NEPC Reviews ( https://nepc.colorado.edu/reviews ) provide the public, policymakers, and the press with timely, academically sound reviews of selected publications. NEPC Reviews are made possible in part by support provided by the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice: https://www.greatlakescenter.org .

The mission of the Great Lakes Center for Education Research & Practice is to support and disseminate high-quality research and reviews of research for the purpose of informing education policy and to develop research-based resources for use by those who advocate for education reform.

Visit the Great Lakes Center website at GreatLakesCenter.org

Contacts

Michelle Renee Valladares

William R. Penuel