Leaders in education and technology said that while artificial intelligence can improve education and provide administrative support, it can also lead to concerns over privacy and bias.
During the July 25 Brookings Institute’s event on AI and education, panelists said that AI can assist in student learning, risk screening, and administrative efficiency through streamlined processes like attendance tracking. They also said that AI is useful for identifying students at risk with mental health issues.
“One of the things that we’ve certainly seen a lot of interest in deploying AI is the growing pressure that schools are under to keep students safe – largely that’s defined as keeping themselves safe from harming themselves,” said Elizabeth Laird, the director of equity in civic technology at the Center for Democracy and Technology. “There’s a mental health crisis that we have going on as well, now that we’re back to school in person. Unfortunately, school shootings have also gone up.”
Laird explained that recent research shows that AI-driven natural language processing technology is being used to scan messages and documents to identify students at risk of self-harm or harming others.
The same technology has frequently gotten “kids in trouble” and students have been “outed” from these systems, Laird warned about privacy concerns.
Students’ education can receive customized tutoring and support through AI tools. Tara Carrozza, the director of digital learning initiatives for New York City Public Schools, said that the New York City Department of Education is developing a generative AI tool for learning algebra.
“Students have been part of the development of it from day one, so they’ve been actually building the technology with us,” Carrozza explained that the tool is unreleased while security and privacy concerns are being addressed.
“The civic opportunity here is to engage students with artificial intelligence,” she said.
Panelists agreed that AI in educational settings requires regulation and guidance. Justin Stone, the associate director of the American Federation of Teachers Innovation Fund, said that while AI technology could expedite tasks that teachers often perform outside of regular work hours by “routinizing” them, it could also perpetuate biases that result in things such as racism.
“It’s up to all of us as professionals, caregivers, caretakers, and stewards of our communities, and certainly the students in them, to do all that work to point out the places where, hey, this technology is perpetrating the biases, the inequities, the racism in our culture,” said Stone.
Roberto Rodriguez, the assistant secretary for planning, evaluation, and policy development at the U.S. Department of Education, said in opening remarks that new guidance will be issued later this year that will “support school leaders, principals, and superintendents in crafting these policies and navigating the use of AI.”
