Governor Murphy wants new Jersey to lead the way on artificial intelligence innovation.

He's made it a key priority for the year and says it should start in our schools.

Well, garden State educators now have access to a wealth of AI resources that were just released by the Department of Education.

It's the first guidance on AI of any kind for new Jersey teachers.

But as districts navigate some of these new programs, concerns have been raised about their efficacy and about some of their privacy and security implications.

Jesse Gomes of Chalk Bait Newark has been covering the issue and joins me now to break it all down.

Jesse, so great to have you here with us.

So what can you tell us about what the state Department of Education has offered to districts, as they really think about how they're laying out this AI education?

Yeah.

So, you know, as we're talking about AI, this is obviously a very fast paced industry.

There's a lot of technology coming out.

There's new technology coming into schools.

And just throughout, you know, the different sectors of, of business.

and so earlier this month, new Jersey released its first set of what we would call resources for educators and school districts across the state to really implement and what they're calling responsibly and effectively incorporate AI into schools.

and so a lot of those resources range from webinars about, you know, what AI is a different types of systems and machines to actual, articles and discussions about, you know, what is the right way to use AI, how I can be used to not only, help in the classroom learning setting, but also help administrators and even teachers in perhaps creating, or, you know, reviewing essays and things like that.

So really, it's not really a strict set of guidelines on how school districts and teachers should, you know, regulate AI, or use it in classroom, but it's more so of an additional resources, for these, sets of educators and administrators to use in classrooms.

And your reporting really laid out, really the kind of multiple pieces of AI as you're just alluding to.

Newark is a great example in terms of how I can be used both in the classroom and it can be used as a tool for the district, but not without some concern.

What are we seeing, first of all, in Newark, in terms of their proposed use of AI cameras across their district?

Yeah.

So Newark, new Jersey, largest school district is really trying to incorporate a lot of this AI.

and so in the last couple of months, Newark Public Schools approved a contract to install over 7000 AI cameras district wide.

that's a lot of cameras.

And there's also a lot of concern around that.

and so what they're the district is saying that they need these cameras to efficiently track students and keep students safe across, district buildings.

and we're also seeing that in the classroom.

The district is implementing new AI programs, specifically a program called Conmigo, created by Khan Academy, which is a nonprofit education company.

and so this this program would be in classrooms to help students, quote unquote, be tutored, assist teachers with additional, learning, such as, like helping students refine math skills, or perhaps if they had questions about a certain topic, Conmigo.

This AI program would be there to assist.

And so there's been a lot of, you know, talks about new technology entering schools, lots of new technology entering Newark.

but there's also just a lot of concerns overall since this is, again, a very fast paced, moving type of industry and technology.

Yeah.

And we've seen the American Federation of Teachers, the largest national teachers union, come out and say, look, there have to be some benchmarks here and there are a lot of concerns, right, about those cameras and how they could potentially misidentify students.

What is the AFT asking for, and what are some of those concerns that they've raised?

Yeah.

So I spoke with the president last week of the American Federation of Teachers president, and basically they came out with a new report that sets their own set of guidelines for the proper use of AI in classrooms.

But from what they're saying is the perspective of educators.

and so what they're calling for is just to maximize security, privacy, and ensure that the safety and security of both students and staff is at the forefront of these regulations and resources at states and districts like Newark.

Start implementing this new technology.

again, they're calling it that.

They're calling it a very fast paced technology, but they're also saying that there are benefits to this, just that, you know, as you know, as there's more implementation of this, there needs to be more conversation about the proper way to use and regulate it.

And certainly a lot of questions about who manages that oversight.

Also, questions around Conmigo, that tutoring program that, as you mentioned, and how effective it is.

It's a conversation I know we will continue to have, because this is going to be a broad field as it rolls out.

Jesse Gomez, reporter for Talk Beat New Newark.

Thank you so much.

Thanks so much.

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