Letter to the editor: Educating students about artificial intelligence

While the editorial “Artificial intelligence is not educational taboo” (March 8, TribLIVE) implied otherwise, I am not, in fact, afraid to talk about artificial intelligence and how this topic might fit into schools.

AI is not only about Alexa and Siri; it also is used in facial recognition technology, Deepfakes, YouTube recommendations, autonomous cars, weapons and more. Consequently, AI has serious effects on privacy, surveillance, our access to information, and how we the people might be steered in regards to elections and governance. Thus, the effects of AI on the First, Fourth, Ninth and 10th amendments are worthy of reasoned and thoughtful conversations, conversations that even academics at Harvard, Duke and elsewhere indicate are unresolved.

As a former eighth grade public school English teacher and former homeschool teacher, my primary contention is that seventh grade students do not yet have enough of the requisite knowledge base to adequately discuss the ethics and responsibilities surrounding AI.

Students should have a sound foundation in civics and our Bill of Rights, as well as some knowledge of history and its cycles of despotism and limited and fragile periods of freedom. Students also should have some experience with logical fallacies and the weighing of arguments, so the analysis and use of persuasive techniques also would be an important prerequisite.

Your average student has, understandably, not learned very much about any of these things by seventh grade. Further, the additional developmental maturity gained by high school also will better prepare students for the rigorous discussion and analysis this topic deserves.

Emily Miller

Salem