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Pennsylvania Advisory Committee Releases Report: The Rising Use of Artificial Intelligence in K-12 Education

The Pennsylvania Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights released a report following a series of public meetings and a collection of public testimony regarding the civil-rights impact of the rising use of artificial intelligence in K-12 education. The report examines AI-related civil-rights, privacy, and disparate impact concerns as well as potential solutions and recommendations to remediate them.

Primary concerns identified in the report include: (1) disruption of critical student-teacher relationships and children’s social-emotional development; (2) promotion and reinforcement of bias and reduced development of critical-thinking skills; (3) widening of the digital divide; and (4) student data privacy and surveillance. The report concludes with a series of policy recommendations to evaluate and proactively address related civil rights and privacy concerns moving forward.

Committee Chair Steve Irwin said, “The Committee’s robust report was bolstered by the broad, incisive testimony that we received, which has allowed us a deeper understanding of the potential of AI to lessen disparities in education as well as the dangers of integrating it into the classroom too quickly. We’re hopeful that our recommendations will be considered by those government bodies in a position to ensure that the power of AI is harnessed in a way that alleviates any threat to the civil rights of our K-12 students.”

All public records from the Committee’s meetings are available online here.

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Media Contact
Melissa Wojnaroski
mwojnaroski@usccr.gov