When 10th graders in Oslo used ChatGPT to answer questions about Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet, they called the AI responses “inspiration”—but researcher Annie Karoline Elgen noticed something troubling: the line between using AI as a tool and letting it do the thinking had blurred. In a study that analyzed 75 lower secondary lessons across 20 classrooms in Norway, AI appeared in 18% of observed classes—a modest figure, but one revealing a crucial shift in how teaching and technology are intertwining. Conducted by Elgen, Katherina Dodou, and Lisbeth M. Brevik through the EDUCATE project at the University of Oslo, the research highlights not just how often AI is used, but how thoughtfully some teachers are guiding students to use it. In English classes, students fed film scripts into AI for feedback, while others used AI to simplify complex texts on apartheid, then compared outputs to the original to assess accuracy. In advanced classes studying Ibsen’s Gengangere, students prompted AI to visualize stage directions or even role-play as characters—sparking deeper engagement with the material. One teacher noted that the chatbot’s portrayal of Mrs. Alving offered “very valuable” insights. What made these moments stand out wasn’t just the tech, but the intentionality behind it. Teachers consistently emphasized AI’s limits, reminding students it “is not a critical object. Not a thinking object.” They taught with AI while also teaching about it—helping students build both subject knowledge and digital judgment. Yet challenges remain. In several classes, students leaned on AI to generate ready-made answers, mistaking convenience for comprehension. The danger, as Elgen warns, lies in letting language models take over the very processes—reading, analyzing, writing—that school is meant to strengthen. The study underscores a growing need: teachers must balance subject mastery with digital fluency to model responsible AI use. As AI becomes more embedded in classrooms, the goal isn’t just access, but awareness—ensuring students don’t just use AI, but understand it. The future of education may not be about resisting technology, but about teaching students to meet it with curiosity, caution, and critical thought.