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Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming part of how schools teach, manage operations, and support faculty and staff. As its use grows, education authorities are also setting directions for responsible adoption.
The Department of Education (DepEd) Order No. 003, s. 20261 provides guidelines for responsible AI use in basic education, alongside plans for a broader AI master plan. In higher education, Commission on Higher Education (CHED) initiatives such as RAISE 20262 and the ACHIEVE Agenda 20303 are advancing AI literacy, digital capabilities, data governance, and responsible adoption.
Preparing for AI therefore requires more than choosing the right tool. Schools also need to consider where AI can provide meaningful support, how people will use it, and what policies, safeguards, and digital foundations need to be in place.
A purposeful approach starts by identifying where AI can support the institution's priorities while keeping people, responsibility, and educational goals at the center. Here are key considerations for schools preparing to use AI.
The Pros and Cons of AI Use in Schools
The rising use of AI in schools creates opportunities across academic and administrative work, but it also introduces challenges institutions must consider. Looking at both sides can help schools determine where AI adds value and where it needs more oversight.
Benefits | Challenges |
| AI can streamline routine communications, document summaries, reports, and information organization. | AI can produce inaccurate information, making human review important. |
| It can help educators plan lessons, conduct research, develop content, and create learning materials. | AI usage raises data privacy and security concerns when it involves sensitive student, employee, or institutional information. |
| AI can help academic and administrative teams work with information and collaborate more efficiently. | AI-generated content can raise questions about whether student work reflects genuine understanding. |
| It can help students develop the skills to use AI critically and responsibly as it becomes more common in education and the workplace. | Overreliance on AI may affect the development of human skills, while unequal access to devices, connectivity, and digital tools can limit who benefits. |
These opportunities and risks reflect broader challenges in the education sector as schools adapt to AI and other emerging technologies. Addressing them requires not only understanding AI's potential, but also deciding how to use it responsibly in practice.
Responsible AI Use Starts with Preparation
Responsible AI adoption requires schools to set clear boundaries around how the technology is used across the institution. The following steps can help turn responsible AI principles into practice.
Establish clear rules for AI use.
Schools can translate national AI guidelines into practical policies by defining clear expectations for how AI should be used across academic and administrative settings.
- Where AI use is permitted, restricted, or inappropriate
- What information faculty, staff, and students can enter into AI platforms
- When AI-assisted work should be disclosed
- How AI-generated information should be reviewed and verified
- Which academic and administrative decisions require direct human involvement
Clear rules can help schools encourage useful experimentation without leaving faculty, staff, and students uncertain about acceptable use.
- Build AI literacy among faculty and staff.
Responsible adoption requires an understanding of both AI's capabilities and limitations. Training can help faculty and staff use AI appropriately, evaluate outputs, and recognize issues such as bias and AI hallucinations.
AI literacy also helps educators guide students toward responsible use rather than simply allowing or prohibiting AI.
Protect data privacy and security.
To protect sensitive information, schools can establish clear controls over the data, platforms, access, and security requirements involved in AI use.
- What types of data can be processed using AI
- Which AI platforms are approved for institutional use
- Who should have access to specific applications and information
- How student and institutional data will be protected
- Whether platforms meet the institution's privacy and security requirements
Using institutionally managed solutions can also provide greater consistency and oversight than allowing sensitive work to move across unmanaged AI applications.
Preserve academic integrity and human supervision.
Human oversight helps ensure AI supports learning and productivity while preserving academic integrity and accountability in schools.
AI can support learning and productivity, but human responsibility should remain central to education. Schools can require disclosure of AI use, verify generated information, and maintain educator oversight while adapting assessments to measure genuine understanding and reasoning.
The same applies to administrative work, where people remain accountable for decisions affecting students, employees, and the institution.
Review AI use and governance regularly.
AI use will continue to evolve as institutions gain experience and new capabilities emerge. Policies and safeguards should therefore be reviewed regularly to ensure they remain relevant to how the institution uses AI.
Schools can periodically assess various areas.
- Whether existing AI policies still reflect current use
- Whether approved AI solutions continue to meet privacy and security requirements
- Where new risks or concerns are emerging
- Whether faculty, staff, and students need additional guidance or training
- Whether current safeguards and oversight remain effective
Regular review helps schools adapt as AI use evolves while maintaining responsible practices across the institution.
Build an AI-Ready Institution
Once the foundations for responsible use are in place, the next consideration is how to apply AI in practical ways.
Becoming AI-ready does not require schools to overhaul existing processes. Institutions can start where AI provides clear value and gradually expand its use as needs evolve and new educational technology trends emerge.
Schools can take the following steps to prepare for AI adoption and integrate it effectively into academic and administrative operations.
- Identify practical use cases. Focus on routine academic and administrative tasks where AI can provide meaningful support.
- Integrate AI into existing workflows. Introduce AI through platforms that faculty and staff already use rather than creating entirely new processes.
- Support collaboration across departments. Use AI to help teams create, research, summarize, and share information more efficiently.
- Strengthen the digital foundation. Reliable school connectivity, appropriate devices, secure cloud platforms, institutionally approved AI solutions, and digital systems, such as a school management system (SMS), support consistent AI use across the institution.
- Plan for long-term adoption. Continue developing skills and use cases as AI capabilities and institutional needs evolve.
This gradual approach can make AI easier to integrate while keeping its use aligned with institutional priorities.
Support AI Adoption with the Right Tools and Connectivity
Preparing an institution for AI goes beyond establishing policies, building AI literacy, and defining practical use cases. Schools also need tools that fit into existing academic and administrative workflows, along with reliable digital infrastructure to support their use. The right combination of AI capabilities, collaboration platforms, and connectivity can help educators and staff integrate AI into their work while maintaining access to the digital services they rely on.
Globe Business offers solutions that can support schools as they put AI into practice.
- Google AI Pro for Education: Brings AI-powered assistance into existing workflows for content creation, research, summarization, productivity, and collaboration
- Google Workspace for Education: Provides a secure and familiar environment where academic and administrative teams can collaborate and access AI-enabled capabilities
Making the most of these AI and collaboration solutions also depends on the digital foundation supporting them. Reliable connectivity helps schools maintain access to AI, cloud platforms, and other digital services as they expand their use across academic and administrative work.
If AI-enabled teaching and productivity are among your institution's priorities, talk to a Globe Business expert today and begin preparing for the future.
Sources
1https://mb.com.ph/2026/02/26/deped-sets-ai-rules-for-schools-puts-teachers-and-learners-at-the-center
2https://ched-raise.wvsu.edu.ph
