Rustling notebooks, clattering keyboards and excessive pen-clicking now share space with a less tangible tool shaping students’ learning: artificial intelligence. At Masters, a number of teachers are beginning to explore how AI can complement their instruction, not as a shortcut, but as a way to better engage students with writing, language and critical thinking.

Across the country, AI is making its way into classrooms at a rapid pace, something educators both fear and celebrate. A 2023 Study.com survey found that 89% of students admit to using ChatGPT for homework, while a Neuroscience News study revealed that 70% of educators believe AI-generated work constitutes plagiarism. Also, a Quizlet study showed that teachers are finding their own use for AI, with 44% using it for research, 38% for lesson planning and 37% for creating classroom materials such as tests and assignments.

Masters teachers like Upper School English teacher Tom Cusano, Upper School Computer Science teacher Jonah Hardy, and Middle School and Upper School Latin and History teacher Benjamin Thorn are developing creative ways to integrate AI in their classrooms. Their work offers a glimpse into the varied approaches educators take in adapting to this advanced technology. 

AI Reimagines the Legal Profession: Benjamin Thorn’s American Legal Studies Class

In Thorn’s American Legal System course, students are encountering AI as a real-world legal issue. The class’s main project involves writing an appellate brief and delivering an oral argument, and students are encouraged to use AI to clarify their thinking, create initial drafts and then revise with what Thorn deems “HI,” or human intelligence.

Thorn incorporated AI into the capstone project after watching students struggle to understand such heavy and legalese-dense topics, but emphasized the use of Notebook L.M. over ChatGPT due to the user’s ability to input direct sources into the platform. 

Additionally, he introduced the ethical obligations lawyers now face regarding AI. Students read a report from the New York State Bar Association outlining how attorneys have a duty to understand the risks and responsibilities of using AI itself.

“We’re using it as a way to better understand the complicated issues,” said Alex Cooperstock ‘25. He continued, “It’s making it easier for me to see different perspectives in this project, and it’s in some ways, actually helping my creativity.”

Thorn also pointed his students toward the 2023 case Mata v. Avianca,Inc., where the lawyer used ChatGPT to construct his argument, which cited fake cases, resulting in a $5,000 sanction and reputational damage. 

“The real harm is the reputational harm because you have proven yourself to be someone who is not diligent and who is trying to cut corners, which is a death sentence for a legal career,” Thorn said.

The lesson he wants students to take away isn’t simply that AI is risky. Thorn mentioned how lawyers may be expected to use AI, for example, to reduce billable hours. “Your generation is not going to be given a choice,” he said. “You’re going to be required to use AI in certain circumstances because nobody is going to want to pay for the time that it takes you to produce your own work.”

What matters, Thorn says, is how we perceive AI. He said, “Everybody focuses on whether the quality of the AI work is better or worse than ours. I think that’s a mistake. The question is speed. AI can produce something half as good as you but it can produce it in a fraction of the time.”

AI and Computers: Jonah Hardy’s Advanced Topics in Computer Science

Under Hardy’s mentorship, advanced computer science students are learning precisely how artificial intelligence works. In the course, which prepares students for the Advanced Placement Computer Science Principles exam, Hardy discusses the underlying mechanics of large language models before guiding classes to apply AI in their own projects.

Hardy views AI as an essential step forward in education. “I feel like it’s the natural progression of technology into the modern landscape of education,” he said. “It expedites the process. It makes it a little bit easier to get started and lowers the barrier to entry into the realm of computer science or tech without the typical necessary background or understanding.”

Students in class have used AI for a variety of tasks, from building image recognition tools to debugging code. Hardy emphasized how AI serves as a fast feedback tool for new programmers. 

 “Sometimes beginner programmers make code that can be a little messy,” he said. He added, “It’s really nice for them—if they want quick feedback, they can take their code, throw it into an AI system and say, ‘Hey, where am I making mistakes?’ Instead of using it to get an answer.”

For the AP performance task, students like Nico Khoury-Levy ‘26 have responsibly incorporated AI into their work. “We used AI to give a basis for one of the functions in our software for the AP exam that we would then cite in the AP exam,” he said.

According to the College Board, generative AI tools are permitted for debugging and understanding code as long as students clearly disclose and review their use. Hardy’s curriculum reinforces that principle. “In all the classes that I teach, I teach the understanding of how AI systems work, and the logic behind how they function. That’s something I think is important to know,” he said.

Hardy’s students are encouraged to explore how AI can supplement their work without replacing their own thinking. “It is the future, and we need to know how to use AI properly,” said Khoury-Levy. “Learning how to implement it in specific contexts, for things like brainstorming, is very important.”

Teaching AI to Teach Us: Tom Cusano’s English Class

When sophomore Aarav Singh received an assignment involving AI in his English class, its focus was on sharpening human insight. The task: use ChatGPT to write a paragraph about the personal significance of a word, then write their own and compare the two.

Singh noticed a clear difference between AI and human capabilities. “I realized that AI doesn’t give the same sensory details and personal experience that a human can write,” he said. The AI’s version was functional but lacked emotion and specificity, showing Cusano’s students how language reflects personal experience.

Cusano designed the exercise to provoke those kinds of realizations. “I come to AI sort of as a skeptic and pessimist,” he admitted. “I wanted to hear kids’ own judgments about AI, but I do feel, as a teacher, I have a responsibility, to advocate for human creativity in this moment.”

This kind of AI-integrated writing exercise is part of a growing national movement among English educators who are reimaging writing instruction in our digital age. The National Council of English Teachers highlighted teachers building “AI literacy” amongst students, so not merely learning about tools like ChatGPT but critically assessing what it produces. Cusano’s classroom encapsulates their idea, where AI is a prompt for students to realize what makes their own voice distinct. 

Using AI in a structured setting also helps remove the stigma around it. “When you’re using AI in a classroom, you don’t need to go behind someone’s back and sneak around with AI. You actually get to learn how to use it,” he said. Singh mentioned that the opportunity allowed him to openly explore AI’s capabilities without feeling any guilt. 

Cusano believes that the objective of the assignment was twofold, to both evaluate the limits of machine-generated learning and to reaffirm the value of human expression. “AI is here, and I don’t think we can just pretend it doesn’t exist, so this is a moment when we really need to reevaluate what our teaching priorities are and what we want students to get out of education,” Cusano said.