As AI enters schools, administrators need to make decisions now.

Agata Popęda here, with a reading recommendation from the current issue of the Weekly (which you can read in print or online). This article is reported and written by my colleague Celia Jiménez, who has an important, often arduous job of monitoring education in Monterey County. Talking to teachers, school administrators, parents and students, she is on the frontline of generational battles.

This week she wrote about AI policies that are being slowly developed and implemented in schools across the county. With AI, we are in the middle of a revolutionary shift, which redefines what it means to be educated and what skills are essential in life or a career. 

While the world and ways of living are changing in front of our eyes, many youth are excited and pushing forward, but teachers and parents have every reason to be terrified and pull back. None of us is able to say what our public education systems will look like in 100 years—if our children and grandchildren will make it there—but certain decisions must be made right now, such as what software is allowed, when and under what conditions.

Some of these decisions are based largely on intuition, because full data to be analyzed doesn’t yet exist, yet they have to be made. To learn how various local school districts are dealing with the issue, read Jiménez’s article here. 

What is your take on the usage of AI in schools? Is it acceptable to use AI when doing homework?