Artificial intelligence (AI) is not coming to classrooms—it is already here.
Now, your mind might immediately go to students using it for essay research or idea generation. Both of those use cases are real, but teachers can add these technologies to their toolbox, too. From lesson planning to student engagement, they can streamline their workday and maximize resources while enhancing how they support students.
At Davidson Academy, we have long emphasized the importance of differentiated instruction tailored to a gifted student’s readiness, interest, and learning profile. These elements are crucial to creating a great learning environment.
With that goal comes the question: “How can teachers build personalized instruction in a way that is sustainable?” One method is using AI.
Why AI Matters in Gifted Education Today
Educators in gifted education are constantly balancing challenge, pacing, and personalization. Nowadays, AI offers two things that are invaluable: time back and greater flexibility.
Insights from the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) emphasize how AI can lighten the load for teachers by streamlining curriculum design and creating differentiated materials quickly. For gifted educators, this means more bandwidth to spend developing one-on-one connections and responsive instruction.
The Archdiocese of Cincinnati hosted a webinar on June 9, 2025 about AI and gifted education, further demonstrating how these tools help educators design open-ended experiences more efficiently. For gifted learners, who often crave autonomy and complexity, that means more time to explore ideas that they like.
And students are not just benefiting from AI—they are leading the way. A recent Purdue University case study revealed how gifted learners are actively
How AI Supports Differentiation & Asynchronous Learning in Gifted Education
One of the most promising benefits of AI and gifted education is the ability to practice differentiation more effectively, meeting students where they are, with tools that match their readiness.
Platforms like Diffit and ChatGPT make it easier to generate tiered reading passages, vocabulary sets, and more. Instead of starting from scratch, teachers can input a rough idea and receive several versions of the same material, each designed for different ability levels or degrees of challenge.
These tools also assist with asynchronous development and learning. For example, AI-generated writing prompts can be customized around a student’s interest area or reading level, allowing them to dive deeper into topics they care about at their own pace. This keeps them excited about what they are learning while simultaneously giving students autonomy.
By intentionally utilizing AI, educators will scale their differentiation efforts without losing the nuance or personalization that gifted students require.
Potential Pitfalls for Educators to be Mindful of
As with any new technology, AI comes with big possibilities and potential drawbacks. AI and gifted education will become more intertwined in the coming years, so it is important to pause and ask: “Is this helping in the right ways?”
Here are some things to look out for:
- Overreliance on AI
- Algorithms might not fully understand gifted learners
- The technology’s own flaws, like hallucinations and misinformation
- Automatically turning to AI
The Risk of Overreliance on AI
AI can be a helpful time-saver for lesson planning, assessment, and content generation, but relying too heavily on it could take away from the deep understanding that gifted learners need. When educators let AI shape too much of the instructional experience, it can unintentionally limit opportunities for open-ended discussion, creative exploration, or differentiated questioning.
AI’s Algorithm Knowledge Gaps for Gifted Individuals
Gifted students often fall outside the curve; they think divergently, may prefer to master material asynchronously, or experience nuanced emotions.
Although AI is increasingly sophisticated, these tools are not yet able to identify or respond to every outlier. In fact, systems trained on average patterns may overlook or misclassify the very traits that make gifted learners unique. Teachers play a huge role in taking AI’s outputs to inform their decision-making and build a more supportive learning environment.
Understanding AI’s Flaws
AI is not perfect. These systems can “hallucinate”, which means they can generate incorrect or misleading information. They may also reflect existing biases in their training data or fail to flag ethical concerns in content. That is why human involvement will always be necessary. Teachers can guide how and when AI is used and model critical thinking for their students.
The Limits of Defaulting to AI in Gifted Education
AI should serve as an extension of good teaching, not a replacement for it. When used intentionally, it can reduce administrative burden and open new doors for student engagement. The core of gifted education, however, should remain human. After all, AI cannot build deep relationships or support creative exploration in the classroom the same way teachers can.
As We Look Towards the Future
Our institution recognizes the promise and the responsibility that come with emerging technologies like AI. While these platforms continue to evolve, we are actively exploring how they can support meaningful learning without losing the creativity, autonomy, and human connection that are so vital to gifted learners. We’re committed to sharing what we learn with educators, families, and students.
We invite educators to experiment, reflect, and imagine what’s possible when innovation meets intention. The future of gifted learning is still human at its core—and you are at the center of it.