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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Thank you. Hi, this is Andy. I've been a New York Times subscriber for years and years, and I'm trying to get my teenagers interested in reading it. If they were to have their own logins and we could share articles, I think that would help get them interested. It would also then allow us to discuss over the dinner table or wherever.
Chapter 2: What significant changes has AI brought to classrooms this year?
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Andy, we heard you. It's why we created the New York Times Family Subscription. One subscription, up to four separate logins for anyone in your life.
Find out more at nytimes.com slash family. From The New York Times, I'm Rachel Abrams, and this is The Daily. With the school year ending, educators and parents all over the country are taking stock of the earthquake that is AI in the classroom.
Today, my colleague Natasha Singer talks about the year that reshaped American classrooms and how one dedicated teacher helped his students chart their own path into an uncertain future. It's Wednesday, June 17th. Natasha Singer, welcome back to The Daily. Thanks for having me, Rachel.
So the school year is done for most students across the country, and it's been a really contentious year when it comes to one topic in particular, which is AI in the classroom, something that you have been covering. Can you summarize for us what the fight is over specifically? And when did it really get started?
You know, Rachel, I've been covering tech in schools and tech industry, influencing schools for the New York Times for more than a decade. And I've never seen the kind of parent backlash about school tech that we're seeing. And particularly, as you pointed out, AI is becoming the new flashpoint. And I think that it's partly because of the context.
First of all, there are massive concerns about cheating. Students tell me they're sitting in the front row of class and the kids in the back row have got their Chromebooks open. And whenever a teacher asks a question, the kids in the back are looking up the answers on Gemini or ChatGPT. And if they get called on, they're just reading the AI answers. Wow.
And so there are all these concerns that these AI tools could pose serious risk to kids' learning, to kids' critical thinking. And so that's part of what the fight is about. And at the same time, you're getting this massive push from tech companies like Google and Microsoft and OpenAI to get their chatbots into schools. And you're also seeing the White House pushing for AI education.
This next executive order relates to artificial intelligence education.
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Chapter 3: What are the main concerns parents have about AI in education?
That they had signed a deal with a startup to make an AI chatbot for students. A new day is dawning in technology and public education. L.A. had said, we're going to be a model for the nation in AI use. It was going to be called Ed. It was really friendly.
Hi, everybody. I'm Ed. Hola a todos. Soy Ed, barrio of Bolorin. Es Ednim.
that would talk to students and students could ask for help if they were struggling with a math problem. It could give them emotional support. They could check their grades. They could check their test scores. Their parents would be able to use this AI tool. We have one of the brightest entities in the universe, Ed. And so it was billed as this magical thing, right?
And the superintendent said it would democratize access to information. A panacea, it sounds like. Right. But very quickly, within a few months, federal prosecutors came in and charged the founder of this startup that was making the AI tool for Los Angeles schools with defrauding investors. Defrauding investors. Right. And then the startup went bankrupt. Right.
And so, you know, that's the end of this tool that LA had chosen as its kind of demonstration product. Sure. And so you have this contrast between Miami, which went methodically and tested many AI tools before settling on one, and LA that went with a small startup that had never made anything of this scale. So obviously this rollout of AI in schools has been chaotic.
Los Angeles shows the risks of rushing into something quickly. This chaos, though, does seem a bit predictable, right? Because we're talking about technology that we are only beginning to understand what it is, how to use it, what the risks are. How have parents reacted to all of this?
Well, I have to go back to Los Angeles because soon after this whole fiasco with the chatbot, Los Angeles parents started a petition called Get Big Tech Off Students' Desks. Big tech is the big tobacco of our time.
Is it safe? Is it legal? And is it effective?
I trusted the school and the district with my child and that you had his best interest at heart. And it wasn't long before he started to come home from kindergarten singing the first songs he learned. Grammarly ads. Make cursive and typing educational standards and remove all generative AI and AI chatbots immediately. And more than a thousand people signed this petition.
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Chapter 4: How are schools implementing AI tools for education?
It's completely different to read a play like Othello or study primary source documents on the history of the civil rights movement or even listen to a podcast versus getting an AI to synthesize that for you, to summarize that for you, to explain it, to you. And parents are saying they want to see more research and more studies about the impact of these tools in schools.
And so one of the things we saw right after the L.A. chatbot fiasco was the Los Angeles School Board just voted to put in restrictions on tech in schools, including like no laptops or tablets for kids in kindergarten and first grade. But in New York, we've seen a groundswell of concern specifically around A.I.,
And a huge push to get the school district to put a moratorium on using student-facing AI tools and asking for an immediate pause on AI in schools. And one of the things that's remarkable about this polarizing debate is that the folks that are actually in the middle of this, the teachers and the students, are largely left out of the discussion.
And so this year I spent a lot of time going to schools and asking teachers and students what they think. We'll be right back.
I'm Paul Tenorio. I cover soccer for The Athletic.
And I'm Amy Lawrence. I cover football for The Athletic.
Whatever you call it, the biggest competition in the sport is happening right now. And The Athletic's World Cup coverage has everything you need to follow the tournament.
This 48-country staking park from the tiny island of Curacao to the five-time champions Brazil. Even if you don't know your offside from your onside, if you're eager to know more about the teams, the matches, all the stories on and off the pitch, we've got you sorted.
Maybe you're the kind of person who's already up early every weekend, waking the neighbours when your favourite club scores.
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Chapter 5: What contrasting approaches are schools taking towards AI integration?
And I'm 18.
My name is Nicholas Wortham. I'm currently a senior and I'm 18. My name is Adrian Farrell. I'm a senior and I'm 18.
And Anna asked them broadly about what they had hoped to get out of the AI literacy class and how they thought about AI now. I decided to sign up for this class because I actually did an internship last year and I saw how there was a lot of AI co-pilots that hoped in like business databases. So I felt like AI isn't going to go nowhere. So it's better for me to learn it now.
so I will be more aware and know how to work AI in my future.
I just wanted a better understanding of how AI can help me in my thinking. Going throughout this class, it made me realize that I have to approach AI with a certain purpose in mind instead of just mindlessly asking a general question because then AI will drive me and I won't drive it.
What did you think about AI before you started this class? To me, I think the misconception that I had is AI kind of has the answers to everything because I had some very specific tasks that I was working on. And if I wasn't specific, giving the AI context or like being straightforward with what I needed it for, it wasn't as accurate or efficient as I hoped it was going to be.
And it just showed me that I had to put a lot more effort into my own personal thinking and taking the initiative on my own versus solely relying on AI in places that I probably shouldn't have solely been relying on it for. When you look back on this course, do you have favorite lessons? Any memories that, you know, you had a light bulb moment or like were funny or silly?
I would say probably the first class. We had an example chart of like, how are you a driver? How are you a passenger? And I was like, I really sat back and realized I was like, Spotify has an AI like DJ and And I'm always listening to the AI DJ. It plays all of my favorite music. And I was like, that's AI unconsciously driving me because I'm not picking the music.
I'm just listening to whatever it generates. And it was funny because I was just like, I feel like I have a good understanding of AI, but this idea of being a driver wasn't really something that I ever thought of. Did you change how you listen to music? Do you still use AI DJ? Yes. Okay. I try to be more specific. If I don't like the song, I'll skip it now.
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