Common Sense, an education platform that advocates and advises for an equitable and safe school environment, published a report last month on the adoption of generative AI at home and school. Parents, teachers, and children were surveyed to better understand the adoption and effects of the technology.
Studies like this are much needed to appropriately adapt the educational space to the presence of AI tools in the classroom. Teaching and learning will change, and Common Sense quantified the effects and risks of AI. The study showed how preconceived notions by teachers, coupled with biases in AI, can merge into situations where Black students are discriminated against. It was found that Black students are twice as likely to have their work falsely flagged as AI-generated. This is valuable knowledge at a time when Black students are constantly not believed when decisions made by algorithms negatively impact their lives.
Common Sense concludes their report by advising parents, children, and teachers to stay receptive to open dialogue. However, regulation and proper policy intervention remain necessary to ensure discrimination never occurs in the classroom, neither at hand of the teacher nor technology.
See: The Dawn of the AI Era: Teens, Parents, and the Adoption of Generative AI at Home and School at Common Sense, and Black Teens’ Schoolwork Twice As Likely To Be Falsely Flagged As AI-Generated at People of Color in Tech.
Image from the original People of Color in Tech article.