Anne Lutz Fernandez asks if we can expect students to learn what adults can’t–or won’t.
Teach the children how to use AI responsibly, educators are being told.
Meanwhile, this summer, the Grok chatbot spewed antisemitic hatred and sexually explicit material on the X social media platform; shortly after, it was contracted for use by the US Department of Defense. Stanford researchers found that large language models (LLMs) express detrimental ideas to those seeking mental health help. McDonald’s AI recruiting tool was easily hacked, exposing applicants’ personal information.
Despite these and other stories, proponents are encouraging K-12 schools to embrace AI. Boosters urge educators to use AI tools and teach children how to use them. Much of their rationale rests on a sense of AI’s inevitability. Many teens report using tools such as ChatGPT to help with homework and to cheat; I saw it in my high school classes last year. A common refrain is that since students are already using it, teachers must show them how to — but “responsibly.”
How can children be expected to use AI responsibly, though, when the adults are not? When tech giants, the federal government, and blue-chip corporations are using it in reckless ways? As Wired editor Brian Barrett said of the Trump Administration’s haphazard application of AI to eliminate programs and jobs: “AI agents are still in the early stages; they’re not nearly cut out for this. They may not ever be. It’s like asking a toddler to operate heavy machinery.”
Some adults, even those in charge of schools, appear uneducated about AI even as they push it. Linda McMahon, the US Education Secretary, was captured on video expressing her desire for kids as young as kindergarten to learn “A1,” referring to artificial intelligence by the name of a popular steak sauce. It’s like asking toddlers to operate machinery without understanding it or its heaviness.
K-12 district leaders should try to stay on top of the rapidly-changing technology landscape — an enormous task — and institute policies to protect children from the harms of new and untested tech. Unfortunately, sensible imperatives like these can be warped by panicky messaging about the future from political and corporate elites. Headlines blare that AI will lead to mass layoffs, possible recession, and slim job pickings for the next generation.