New York City is determined to embrace technology and generative artificial intelligence (AI) in public schools. The plan is to incorporate AI training for educators and AI-crafted curriculum for students.
When OpenAI publicly released ChatGPT, which can create lifelike writing using vast data sets, the city restricted the chatbot on most public school internet networks and on education department devices until they could figure out how to tackle it. Some principals and schools could request access to unfiltered chatbot services.
It’s been discovered that ChatGPT versions have the ability to ‘lie’ or fabricate inaccurate information depending on how it is prompted. So at first, the NYC Department of Education (DOE) shared the much larger concern that the chatbot and AI apps would have negative impacts on student learning, and encourage cheating and plagiarism, reported Chalkbeat.
Chancellor of New York City Public Schools David Banks later wrote an op-ed discussing the advance of technology and innovation in city schools. “The knee-jerk fear and risk overlooked the potential of generative AI to support students and teachers, as well as the reality that our students are participating in and will work in a world where understanding generative AI is crucial,” wrote Banks. “Like many others, we had much to learn about the promise and perils of AI in our schools and communities.”
Banks was fully behind citywide educators teaching about the future and ethics of AI, expanding the Computer Science for All (CS4All) initiative in schools, and using generative AI to create lesson plans and grade papers.
Adhering to that future forward mindset, Councilmembers Rita Joseph and Shaun Abreu introduced three resolutions: Res 0766-2023 (Joseph) updates the CS4All initiative in underserved schools; Res 0767-2023 (Joseph) mandates training on generative AI tools for all educators; and Res 0742-2023 (Abreu) calls to develop curriculum on machine learning and adapt policies for the safe use of AI.
“The goal of this resolution is for educators to be equipped [and] informed with all the tools they need,” said Joseph. “If they’re not trained, they won’t know what to look for.”
Joseph, who is the education committee chair, refers to herself jokingly as a “forever educator” who taught for 20 years. She doesn’t believe that AI can replace traditional reading and writing skills, but that it can be beneficial in creating analysis and dialogue for students. She encourages use and exploration of AI but not a total dependence on it.
She said that an important lesson city leadership learned from the COVID pandemic is that many teachers and even parents were not familiar with technology. She likened the training program to previous generations that had plagiarism checkers. Nowadays, said Joseph, students are far more advanced and need the opportunity to explore technology in positive ways.
“Hiding it from them would be a disservice because then kids would be kids. They’ll be curious and go find out how far they can get with it,” said Joseph.
The CS4All initiative began under former Mayor Bill de Blasio back in 2015. At the time, the underrepresented populations in tech—women as well as Black and Latino students and students from low-income families—were huge. According to the CS4All DOE website, the initiative reached over 800 schools, with 2,000 teachers trained and 6,857 students taking Advanced Placement CS exams in 2020. But Joseph is advocating for the program to be implemented citywide, especially in predominantly Black and brown schools that are still in need.
The council held a joint technology and education committee hearing about the resolutions on Sept. 20. A few council members questioned if student data, which is illegal to sell commercially, was private and safe from predatory third party vendors, apps, or security breaches. They also asked how the city and schools can separate out harmful biases prevalent in the software that students are using.
Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member and writes about politics for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.