Los Angeles educators, parents want more of a say in AI's complicated future in classrooms
The young minds sitting in Los Angeles Unified School District classrooms each day are rapidly changing and evolving — and some worry that a technology evolving at a similar pace could upend their futures.
Artificial Intelligence was used by 85% of teachers and 86% of students last school year nationwide, according to the Center for Democracy & Technology, so parents and teachers alike know that at some point, schools are going to need to adapt to the nearly universal use of the technology. But just because it's widely used doesn't mean it's widely popular.
"I think AI in schools has actually reached the level of public health emergency," said Anya Meksin, a parent and the deputy director of Schools Beyond Screens.
Schools Beyond Screens started in LA and has grown into a nationwide coalition of parents and teachers advocating for safer classroom technology. They cite warnings like one last month from national watchdog Common Sense Media claiming that the AI built into Google's search engine is an "unacceptable risk" for kids, and one that schools and parents simply can't turn off.
"Are we going to protect our children and give them the opportunity that we had to develop a full human consciousness, or are we going to stunt them so that they never get to reach their full potential," Meksin said.
LAUSD already bars students under the age of 13 from using AI. A district resolution is calling for an update to its AI guidelines as the technology evolves; however, opinions on those evolutions depend on who you ask.
Longtime visual arts teacher Arturo Romo believes that there's no point in panicking about AI in schools because it's a nuanced, complicated topic, and one society cannot avoid.
"I don't think that we need to be scared of it because that might lead us to be reactionary and make poor decisions around it," Romo said, adding that he doesn't allow students to generate images in class. "What really works for students? And I think that's got to be the heart of the question that we ask."
Romo's main worry is growing contracts signed between AI companies and school districts. He says every dollar spent on that technology is potentially not being spent on maximizing the learning environment, which would be more counselors and smaller class sizes.
The ultimate worry, he says, is that schools could be headed toward an environment where the connection between a teacher and student is divided by an AI chatbot.
"What do you believe about the world? What do you want to see in the future," Romo said. "What do you think about key issues that are important to your life? Like that's not going to come from an AI bot, right? It's going to come from you."
Meksin and Romo both say that educators, parents and students all need a bigger voice going forward in how LAUSD handles AI.
"That's the entire purpose of education: is to, you know, struggle through this and develop those hard-won, you know, critical thinking analytical skills," Meksin said.
CBS LA reached out to LAUSD for an interview regarding AI in the classroom, but the request was denied.