Bot or Not: Should Schools Ban the AI Classroom?

0:00Well, artificial intelligence in the classroom is front and center. As we get this school year started at the K through 12 level, it's certainly something that is being talked about at length in colleges and universities around the country, and certainly here in Michigan. And there have been some conversations about whether or not banning AI in schools is a good thing. Like, for example, in New York City, they've done it. What grade? I believe it's the younger grades. Yeah. So basically, they're looking at it as we're going to take this out of their hands, not going to be able to use it. It's a pause actually for like, it's a trial for this year, for this year. For this year. And then they'll revisit it at the end. Yes. And the question is, is that a good idea? Because AI is certainly going to be a part of our every day in the next, I mean, it already is, to a certain degree, but at a much wider degree in the next five, 10 years. And so do you want kids

1:05to be able to know how to navigate that? Is that something that they should be learning? Let's talk about it. Alina Zachary Ross is a superintendent of the Ipsilanti community schools and joins us this morning. It's great to have you superintendent. Good morning. Thanks for having me on today. What is your perspective on this? Educators are taking different approaches towards artificial intelligence in the classroom. Where do you stand? Yeah. Well, you know, I can completely understand why some parents will be anxious to hear about young people five year olds interacting with the chat box. They don't want their children to be getting picks, but at superintendent, I can tell you that the sweeping bands are just an illusion of control. We understand that AI, as you said, is already embedded in a lot of our things. They're embedded in our Chromebooks and our Google tools and our scholars use it every day. And so having a blanket band doesn't stop our scholars from using it. It just widens the equity divide that we already see. And superintendent, you know, a lot

2:07of supporters say AI can provide personalized tutoring. You got the critics who say that it weakens critical thinking, how do you capture the benefits without allowing students to avoid the hard work of learning? Absolutely. You know, we've got to have those high expectations with high levels of support. We've seen it in our district really support our scholars. One of our teachers combines that gender to AI with audio generations and translation platforms to, you know, to really bring that learning to the levels, especially of our EL students and students with special needs. And so we can't, we've got to use AI ethically, but it can't replace the humanity. It has to be able to accelerate access for those vulnerable scholars. So how are you approaching an Ipsilanti? An Ipsilanti, we really, we have put on guard rails. We have AI policies, but what we do every Monday, we send out a Monday AI playbook for our educators. We have AI conferences because we, the big

3:14issue is that many of our teachers, they're not anti technology. They just don't feel supported. So we've given a lot of expectation of high expectations, but high levels of support for our educators, as well as we have a AI youth ambassador council. And those scholars really help us to deliver the message to their peers in a way that peers can understand that integrity and ethical implications that is required. And you know, students are going to enter a workforce, super intended, where AI is, is coming. I mean, could banning it like leave them unprepared or, or must they first like master reading and writing an independent thinking before they start using it? They've got to do both. We definitely can have to focus on the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic that we all grew up on. And they have to really understand how to navigate in this world with AI. That critical thinking is a both end. And we have to teach them what the superpowers of our humans are and the

4:20superpowers of when we'll use AI. We don't necessarily need to use AI at all times, but a lot of jobs now require them to have basic knowledge. And especially that integrity piece and ethical implication piece, we have to teach AI literacy in our school. Superintendent of Ipsilani Community Schools, Alina Zachary Ross, we appreciate your time this morning. Thank you. Thanks for having me today. Yeah, you got it. And I also look at the, you know, what AI could do to maybe help support kids. I believe the the superintendent mentioned this too. Kids with disabilities or maybe English language, you know, learners. I mean, I think if you have this sweeping band, it may unintentionally kind of remove the tools from from some children who may generally need some help and who they who it could really help. Here's what I would point to Steve Jobs never gave his kids an iPad. Bill Gates wouldn't give his kids a smartphone till they

5:21were into their teens. Peter Teal would limit his kids to 90 minutes of screen time per week. Evan Spiegel, a Snapchat restricted his kids to about 90 minutes of screen time a week. Sunder Pachai of Google says that his son did not have a phone at age 11 and that home television was hard to access. There was a interesting piece in the New York Times a couple of weeks ago about these tech giants and how they approach their children with their technology. And basically, in a nutshell, they're like, you don't get it. You're not using it. Why is that? Good question. And I want to know if they know if they did that, how come they didn't talk about it openly to others who are using their products. Yeah, because they know that keeping your head in a phone for hours on a day or watching hours of TV a day will watch you. Now put it out there and the parents are going to decide how that's going to happen. Well, of course, because that's not good for the bottom line. Exactly. But they don't want to, you know, they'll treat their kids

6:27a little different. I think there's a very fine line of being proficient and prepared for what we will eventually come to down the pipe. Yeah. And an exercising caution and exercising restraint. Mm-hmm. I think there's a very fine line. It's a very fine line. And it's a lot more difficult for people that are working nine to fives that are coming home to make dinner that are, you know, just paying the bills. Yeah. It's a lot more difficult for them than somebody like Mark Zuckerberg. Take a break. More next.