Artificial intelligence has found its way into Miami-Dade classrooms. In the third-largest school district in the country, 100,000 students are now using Google\u2019s Gemini chatbot in the classroom.<\/p>\n
Miami-Dade County Public Schools teachers are experimenting with AI tools to grade essays and bring their lesson plans to life by enlisting chatbots to impersonate historical figures, according to a May story in the New York Times. Central Florida school leaders are also exploring the use of AI in classrooms.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s both exciting and troubling. Left unchecked, AI risks opening the door to a decline in students\u2019 critical thinking skills \u2014 giving too much power to technology rather than teachers. We understand the temptation of asking ChatGPT when a student has a question that would require a lot of research.<\/p>\n
At a press conference this summer, Gov. Ron DeSantis wondered out loud about the ramifications. \u201cAre students going to have artificial intelligence write their term papers? Do we even need to think?\u201d His concerns are well-founded.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s not just critical thinking that could be affected. AI doesn\u2019t always provide correct information, increasing the risk of misinformation being accepted as truth. And yet, AI is being used more and more by teens, and not just for school work. A recent study by Common Sense Media found that approximately 72% of teens have used AI as a companion at least once, and more than half are regular users. In the same study, one in four admitted to sharing personal details with chatbots, and younger teens, ages 13 and 14, were found more likely to trust AI answers.<\/p>\n
Florida has already seen what happens when social media is left unchecked. Parental controls weren\u2019t enough to protect kids. Now, an anxious generation has emerged \u2014 shaped by Instagram and TikTok\u2019s addictive algorithms. AI could be the same and much worse.<\/p>\n
Last year, DeSantis signed into law one of the most restrictive social media bans in the country. The law stopped kids under 14 from having social media accounts and required parental permission for use by 14- and 15-year-olds. A federal judge in June blocked Florida from fully enforcing the ban on constitutional grounds, though the judge acknowledged \u201csincere concerns\u201d of parents and lawmakers. The state has unsuccessfully sought to have the lawsuit dismissed.<\/p>\n
The University of Florida has created the Florida K-12 AI Education Task Force, and they\u2019ve developed AI guidelines for schools. That\u2019s a step in the right direction. With over two dozen district partnerships \u2014 including Orange, Osceola, Miami-Dade and Broward school districts \u2014 the task force offers guidance on how to safely use AI in the classroom. From toolkits to training resources, its work highlights privacy and how to keep students from being overly reliant on chatbots. The group is tackling tough issues like ethical considerations for educators, students and IT professionals.<\/p>\n
They could use some help. The University of Central Florida, which already offers degrees in artificial intelligence and a certificate program that focuses on the technology\u2019s human impact, should consider adding classes and research into best-use principles for AI, in classrooms and beyond. He<\/p>\n
But guidelines aren\u2019t the same as regulation. This is a huge challenge, too. Each county shouldn\u2019t be left on its own to decide what kind of standards to put in place. Lawmakers should use the task force\u2019s efforts as inspiration and perhaps UCF\u2019s research as a template. So far only two states, Ohio and Tennessee, have passed laws requiring school districts to have policies about the use of AI in schools though other states are issuing guidance on AI policy.<\/p>\n
And AI continues to be a focus in Tallahassee: A House subcommittee on insurance and banking held a panel discussion Tuesday on the use of AI in the insurance industry. The subcommittee chairman, Rep. Brad Yeager, R-New Port Richey, told Politico the meeting was strictly \u201ceducational\u201d for now.<\/p>\n
This is not just up to the states. Congress has a key role, too. President Trump, though, has taken the opposite approach, pushing to remove any state laws that could be \u201cburdensome\u201d to developing AI technology. He is advocating for national standards, not state regulation. His goal: to make the U.S. the dominant player in AI technology.<\/p>\n
So where does that leave Florida? AI is going to require at least as much scrutiny as social media. We\u2019re already experiencing the consequences of allowing social media algorithms unfettered access to our children.<\/p>\n
AI use is growing by the day. Its future is still unknown. Teaching students about it is the only responsible path. But the dangers are real. Florida shouldn\u2019t wait for the federal government. If the state sets up guardrails now for use by students, we can lead on the use of AI in classrooms.<\/p>\n
This Miami Herald\u00a0 editorial has been adapted by the Orlando Sentinel. The Sentinel sometimes reprints editorials that agree with our own positions. Send letters to insight@orlandosentinel.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Artificial intelligence has found its way into Miami-Dade classrooms. In the third-largest school district in the country, 100,000…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23415,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[2853,482,139,141,140,109],"class_list":{"0":"post-23414","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-editorials","9":"tag-opinion","10":"tag-orlando","11":"tag-orlando-headlines","12":"tag-orlando-news","13":"tag-social"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23414"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23414\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}