the subcommittee on early childhood elementary and secondary education will come to order i note that a quorum is present without objection the chair is authorized to call recess at any time good morning artificial intelligence has been
advancing at such a rapid pace in recent months weeks and days that by the end of this hearing anything we say this morning will probably be outdated that's perhaps a slight exaggeration but it is the essential reality leading labs
continue to put out new models each week shattering benchmarks demonstrating incredible capabilities and pointing towards still greater advancements ahead indeed there does not appear to be any limit to this progress in sight this
rapid acceleration towards the future has brought a host of anxieties not least of which is geopolitical at this moment America holds a clear but precarious AI advantage there are also concerns related to jobs privacy safety control and more broadly a sense of
uncertainty about the social changes that coming breakthroughs will herald and what our world will look like for the next generation as understandable and important as these concerns are the bigger picture is one of opportunity and a truly limitless
sense of possibility even with the state-of-the-art as it now exists let alone what it'll be next week next year or a decade from now we suddenly have tools to address many long-standing challenges in new and powerful ways
education is one very clear example of that i'm a former high school teacher and I believe one of the greatest failings in our country's modern history is the way millions of kids have been deprived of a decent education our school system has shameful achievement gaps nowhere more so than in my home
state of California owing to the neighborhood they were born into far too many young people in this country are not receiving the education they deserve and are robbed of the opportunities that a quality education provides meanwhile the educational attainment of the
country as a whole has been a on a sharp decline ai can change that it has the potential to give every child in America a richer educational experience than any child in America had just a few years ago it can give every teacher in America
a greater ability to reach students than any teacher did in the past it can empower parents to follow their child's progress and guide it accordingly for a glimpse of this potential here's a short video
one teacher in a classroom of more than 20 students it may be hard for them to get around to everyone during a class period but now with the help of this artificial intelligence tool students are getting more one-on-one tutoring without replacing that human interaction
what was your non-fiction catalina Toledo is enjoying the extra set of instructors in her 10th grade reading class at Santa Lucia High School it's a tremendous amount of help because um it reiterates everything that I've taught them and then it allows them to go back and forth with it
it is called KIGO an artificial intelligence power tool through Khan Academy that's a supplemental secure educational program the district was already using it's the advancement of technology guys we're living through it students like Tiffany Chopi are among
the first to use this virtual tutoring program giving her individual attention it doesn't give us answers at all actually right now it's asking me questions about the story and he's and he's like "Oh what would happen next?" Instead of like throwing the answer at me he's like "Let's figure out together let me see what you got." Toledo says
diving into the world of AI can be scary and overwhelming at first she doesn't worry about a computer taking her job but knows it's part of the future so better to use it in a controlled environment the kids are going to utilize the things that are out there so I feel like if they're able to utilize
it with us then it's better because we we can monitor it she says it can also give students more confidence who may not feel comfortable raising their hand in class it helps answer like different questions that I'm like concerned about and like if I'm like worrying about how to spell a certain thing or how to do a
certain thing it'll answer it right away instead of having to wait for your teacher when they're busy with other students at the most basic level AI tools like Conigo from the Khan Academy give every child access to a world-class tutor in
any subject this is no small matter studies have shown that just a year of high dosage tutoring can add up to a full two years worth of additional learning gains yet this is a very special kind of tutor one that's available any time of the day for unlimited amounts of time and that can't
be stumped by any question it's a tutor that is thoroughly familiar with a student's strengths and weaknesses and baseline knowledge enabling personalized instruction that compels critical thinking without giving away answers perhaps best of all this tutor is lowcost or free for most of history
access to this kind of personalized instruction would have been completely unthinkable yet AI has made it commonplace these tools can customize the learning experience for each student adapting their content pace and learning style to the students performance and preferences they can also bring learning
to life in new and dynamic ways learning physics from Albert Einstein or engaging in a dialogue with a fictional character when studying a work of literature we're already seeing AI widely adopted by students in limited ways nearly 50% of K12 students use Chat GPT at least
weekly of the students who use AI 35% frequently use it to summarize information 32% to generate ideas for assignments and 26% to get initial feedback on their work so the question is not whether students will use AI that's already happening rather the question is how schools can support
students in using AI responsibly and in unlocking its full potential to advance student achievement and it's not just students who stand to benefit ai can empower teachers and school leaders to fulfill their vision for their classrooms and to connect with students
in the highest impact ways ai tools can help with tasks like lesson planning and grading and can free teachers to focus on the aspects of education that only a caring human can provide a recent McKenzie analysis found that AI can save teachers up to 13 hours per week there
are also of course risks when it comes to AI usage in the classroom recent studies show the ready availability of chat bots has proven an irresistible temptation to many students nearly 40% of middle and high school students admitted they used AI without teachers permission to complete assignments
according to a survey last year now while outright cheating is certainly a concern the bigger challenge is to be vigilant in ensuring AI never becomes a shortcut to avoid engaging in critical thinking formulating original ideas and persevering through challenging content
student privacy is also a crucial issue district leaders must be thoughtful about the data that gets collected and vigilant about securing that data we'll hear testimony today about how district leaders and administrators can use AI responsibly without endangering students rights and finally we must be mindful of
excessively absorbing students into digital worlds the negative effects of smartphone use for young people have become impossible to deny and the last thing we want to do is compound this problem i suspect the most successful approaches to AI in the classroom will assure human interaction remains
fundamental to the educational experience none of this I should add is a call for new mandates at the federal level quite the contrary education is fundamentally a state and local issue and the best education solutions emerge
when school leaders and teachers are given flexibility to do what's best for their students this is especially true given the infinite variety of ways AI can be utilized in the classroom and the rapid pace at which it continues uh to evolve the purpose of today's hearing is
to cast light on the enormous potential that exists and we can continue to highlight outstanding examples of AI and education throughout the country so best practices can be shared we have an excellent witness panel assembled to give us perspective on all of these questions and I'm looking forward very
much to hearing their thoughts with that I'll yield to the ranking member for an opening statement uh thank you Chairman Kylie and thank you to the witnesses for being here today i'm encouraged that all of the witnesses submitted testimony that recognizes the opportunities and the challenges of artificial
intelligence in the in K12 education we are at a pivotal time in education and the path we choose will determine whether we can equip students and educators with the tools the critical thinking skills and the knowledge they need to succeed in an ever evolving
technologically driven world artificial intelligence is not in the distant future it's in our schools right now it's shaping how students are educated and how they learn and although this is an exciting prospect it also presents significant challenges particularly
regarding equity and regulation without a doubt dismantling the Department of Education will exacerbate inequities and set us back as a nation the Department of Education is not just a building through its programs it plays a pivotal role in closing achievement gaps and
helping to meet the goal that all students including those in rural and lowincome communities and including students with disabilities have an opportunity to access highquality public education it is the Department of Education that helps level the playing
field and provides critical resources that many districts are not able to afford without federal funding title One for example provides resources for schools with high concentration of poverty a lifeline for the schools that need it the most in fact every witness
here today mentioned in their testimony the importance of access which is one of the main points of Title One it's unclear what will happen to Title One but without experienced implementation at the Department of Education it's likely assuming it survives we will see
support severely cut or limited and the prospect of waiverss to block grant title one which some Republicans are advocating for is troubling because without accountability systems we won't know if the dollars will go to the highest need schools resulting in deepening inequities and academic gaps
it's also important to mention that the Trump administration cut funding for a significant portion of federal grants that support education uh educator professional development including the teacher quality partnership thankfully federal courts have ordered the administration to restore these funds
professional development opportunities are crucial to equip educators with evidence-based teaching practices as well as prepare uh educators on AI technologies and other necessary skills needed to educate students for the 21st century it's no question that a loss of
funding or inconsistent funding or delayed funding dispersement will disproportionately harm struggling lowincome and rural schools and students without a robust and equitable funding system with a strong accountability framework the digital divide will widen
technology disparities will mirror existing in inequalities and that will leave vulnerable students with fewer opportunities to benefit from AI integrated learning environments or to learn proper guardrail surrounding the use of AI during the 1990s and early
2000s as technology was rapidly evolving it was the Department of Education that led efforts to close the digital divide without federal leadership we would have seen even greater inequities unfortunately today the Department of Education is still reeling from a significant reduction in force including
the elimination of the Office of Educational Technology this office was instrumental in guiding schools on the safe and ethical integration of new technologies like AI providing resources on data security and best practices with the OE gone we risk losing schools
leaving schools and students unprepared for AI's opportunities and challenges and related to the topic today the massive chainsaw cuts to IIEEES the Institute of Education Sciences is absurd research helps educators and policy makers make good decisions and
that's not something local school districts and states can easily replicate several states including Virginia California and my home state of Oregon have started developing guidance and policies about AI use in the classroom but without the Department of
Education's leadership states are left to navigate this complex landscape on their own which again creates inconsistencies and exacerbates achievement gaps and we recognize that local schools and districts have the authority already to determine local
decisions whether it be teacher standards class size curriculum that is local but it is this federal investment in research and leadership that makes a difference so as we grapple with the role of AI in education we must equip students with the skills necessary to
survive in today's society and economy the jobs of tomorrow will demand proficiency in technology including in AI and without proper education students especially those from underfunded districts will find themselves at a
disadvantage unable to compete in in an increasingly globalized economy but this issue isn't just about access to technology it's how we use the technology as AI is integrated into classrooms we must be diligent so it does not reinforce existing biases or
create new ones with the department's staffing cuts and an overwhelming case load the Office for Civil Rights in the Department of Education which addresses uh discrimination in schools through investigation they're struggling to keep up we need federal leadership and
research to help guide the use of AI in school so all students regardless of their zip code income race have the opportunity to learn grow and thrive in this new digital age that's clear from the testimony of the witnesses today and it's also clear that eliminating the
Department of Education and for that matter the National Science Foundation and other research-based entities is antithetical to that goal so as we move forward Democrats are committed to providing equal access to public education for all students we're looking for reasonable policymakers from either
side of the aisle to join us in strengthening local schools by preserving these important federal investments in education and education research this should not be a partisan issue it affects every student teacher and family in the country and it most
certainly affects our potential for growth and competitiveness in a global economy i look forward to the conversation and I yield back the balance of my time pursuant to committee rule 8C all members who wish to insert written statements into the record may do so by submitting them to the committee clerk
electronically in Microsoft Word format by 5:00 p.m 15 days after this hearing and without objection the hearing record will remain open for 14 days to allow such statements and other extraneous material noted during the hearing to be submitted for the official hearing record i note for the subcommittee that some of my colleagues who are not
permanent members of this subcommittee may be waving on for the purpose of today's hearing i'll now introduce our four distinguished witnesses our first witness is Dr sid Doorin the chair of the department of English at the University of Florida in Gainesville Florida our second witness is Dr julia
Rafel the CEO of the ILO group here in Washington DC our third witness is Miss Aaron Moat the CEO for Inn innovate edu in uh Brooklyn uh New York and our fourth witness is Mr chris Chisum the superintendent of the Pearl Public
School District in Pearl Mississippi we thank the witnesses for being here today and we look forward to your testimony pursuant to committee rules I would ask that you each limit your oral presentation to a threeminut summary of your written statement the clock will countd down from three minutes as committee members have many questions for you and we would like to spend as
much time as possible on those questions however pursuant to committee rule 8D and committee practice we will not cut off your testimony until you reach the 5-minute mark i'd like to remind the witnesses to be aware of their responsibility to provide accurate information to the subcommittee and I
will first recognize Dr doin for your testimony microphone uh we were not given technical instructions so uh Mr chairman ranking committee member and distinguished members of the committee and others in attendance I want to thank you first for
the opportunity to speak with you today about artificial intelligence and generative artificial intelligence and education specifically within K through2 education um as noted my name is Sid Doorin i am chair of the department of English at the University of Florida
where I have been faculty for 28 years now my primary focus of research falls to writing studies specifically in terms of emerging technologies such as augmented reality virtual reality and artificial intelligence i won't bore you
with my other bonafidees since you have them in front of you other than to say over the last two years I've had the opportunity to speak to more than 70 campuses worldwide about integrating artificial intelligence into curriculum and I have to tell you I very much
appreciate getting those invitations and the invitation to speak with you today because it usually goes something like this hey Sid could you come talk to us about artificial intelligence and generative artificial intelligence and education in these massive galactic galactic subjects and could you do us a
favor and wrap it up in three minutes these are big complex subjects no matter what I say today will only be scratching the surface of the conversations we need to be having since the subject of and research
about artificial intelligence and generative artificial intelligence in the workplace is such a complex and extensive conversation what I'm going to talk about now really is just sort of introductory the introduction of generative AI tools
like chat GPT have marked a turning point in education while many became aware of these technologies in November of 2022 the groundwork for AI education was laid much earlier initiatives such as the artificial intelligence for K12 initiative developed by organizations
like the association for the advancement of artificial intelligence and the computer science teacher association aimed to create national guidelines and resources for AI education however the rapid evolution of AI necessitates a broader approach beyond computer science
alone today integrating AI into K through2 education is crucial for several reasons first technological advancements have made powerful AI tools widely accessible and as was noted in the opening statements access is a key conversation that we must be having it's
also changed how students learn to interact with information it is not enough for students to merely consume these technologies they must also understand how they work this comprehension will prepare them for the modern workplace where AI is becoming
increasingly integral incorporating AI literacy into curriculum fosters critical thinking and problem solving skills essential for success in any career path employers are increasingly looking for candidates who can navigate complex AI tools analyze data and make
informed decisions by embedding AI education across subjects we can equip students with these vital competencies building a more adaptable innovative workforce ready to meet the demands of a rapidly changing job market moreover as
we we transition into an AIdriven economy workforce readiness will hinge on our educational systems ability to prepare students for these new realities we must ensure that our students are not just passive users of technology but proactive participants who can leverage
AI to enhance their creativity and productivity thus in my comments today and in my written statement I urge the committee to prioritize AI integration into K through2 education to prepare our students for the future by doing so we not only enhance individual career
prospects but also contribute to American innovation and economic competitiveness on a global scale which I address in my written testimony i want to thank you for your time and for the opportunity to speak with you about this pressing issue thank you
thanks very much i'll now recognize uh Dr raelbear for your testimony thank you Chair Kylie Ranking Member Bonamichi and members of the committee thank you for the opportunity to testify today regarding the integration of artificial intelligence in K12 education
my name is Dr julia Rafelbear i'm the CEO of ISO Group we are a woman-owned woman-ledd policy and strategy firm we work with over 200 districts and states nationwide our work impacts one in three students in the country i'm also the founder of Women Leading Ed we are the
largest national nonprofit network for women in educational leadership we have members in every state in this nation today I advise education leaders nationwide i serve on multiple federal and national boards including the National Assessment Governing Board ai
is rapidly becoming one of the most impactful innovations across all industries it has the power to transform how educators teach how students learn how schools operate and how prepared our future workforce will be to leverage emerging technologies
however Women Leading Ed did a survey of hundreds of women across the country and what we learned is that 81% of leaders feel that AI is significantly impacting their systems however fewer than 10% report that they have the adequate resources for effective and safe
implementation given this reality we must ensure that every student educator caregiver and community member is equipped not merely with digital literacy but with AI literacy the 2024 bipartisan house task force on AI rightly recognizes the importance of AI
literacy and the need for resources for it our work has also found that to establish robust foundations for responsible AI usage there must be meaningful and ongoing community engagement based on ISO Group's specific work on AI for the past two and a half
years I offer you three specific recommendations for federal policy first the federal role should be intentionally limited it should allow states and districts the flexibility and the autonomy to lead AI integration efforts that reflect their unique contexts given
the rapidly evolving role and the nature of these technologies decisions about AI literacy specifically should remain local rather than federally defined second strengthening data security and privacy protections must be an immediate
priority as AI adoption accelerates here the federal government has an appropriate role to provide consistent cyber security and data guidance across all states and across all agencies education systems increasingly face sophisticated AI enhanced cyber security
threats making standardized protections essential federal policymakers could develop a comprehensive data privacy bill that supports effective policies and best practices related to online safety and data privacy that are broadly disseminated to states third the federal
government has a critical role in funding research that rigorously assesses AI's impact on education the federal government is uniquely positioned to research and evaluate where rapidly evolving AI tools enhance educational quality relevance and
efficiency and also to evaluate its risks and conduct costbenefit analyses at scale federal support is essential for analyzing and sharing evidence-based practices and ensuring that educator and student privacy is adhered to we recommend convening a White House summit
on AI and education to examine both the opportunities and these limitations in conclusion thoroughly integrated AI can transform educational outcomes but achieving this is going to require careful planning prioritizing deep stakeholder engagement comprehensive AI
literacy and robust security measures thank you again for your leadership on this critical issue and for the opportunity to speak with you today thanks very much i'll now recognize Miss Vote for your testimony good morning Chairman Kylie Ranking Member Bamucci and members of the
committee thank you for the time and attention today i appreciate the chance to address you about the state of AI in K12 education my remarks are shaped by decades of work at the intersection of education and technology as a technologist and enterprise architect
I've been using AI and engineering technology for schools including the charter school that I founded in downtown Brooklyn for more than a decade my comments today are informed by my experience working alongside state chiefs district administrators educators
families communities through the EdSafe AI Alliance and Innovate Edu the alliance fosters collaboration and knowledge to prioritize student well-being and effective learning outcomes through the safe framework safety accountability fairness and
transparency and efficacious use of AI in education though my most important role is that of a mother of two school age children and like some of you and all parents across this country I want to ensure that my children are safe that
they're known and cared for that their data is safe their teachers are supported and they have a pathway to join a future workforce where a prerequisite for any career from lawyer to doctor to plumber will be of how you work alongside and manage artificial
intelligence artificial intelligence is an arrival technology arrival technologies like electricity social media or the internet are massively disruptive and rapidly reshape how we teach how we learn how we live right now
AI's use is uneven and limited across school communities with only about 25% of educators reporting that they have used AI in the classroom or even in their preparation access to this technology and the resources to support building AI literacy are unevenly
distributed how we support AI and education and its adoption must be about embracing opportunity access fairness especially for our underresourced rural urban and suburban schools and communities the story of AI in education
is one of both promise and peril ai offers the promise of personalized learning and improve student outcomes ai's growing capacity to tailor content to each students pace including those with disabilities represents a significant advancement in education
technology however to unlock personalized learning AI needs a vast amount of data this need can raise significant risks regarding how the data is stored who has access to it and the potential for its misuse ai promises to enhance the
efficiency of educators and administrators by supporting them with a range of through a range of time-consuming administrative tasks however tools must be reliable safe and effective we must work to mitigate the existing biases that exist in these
tools increase algorithmic reliability and trust in the outputs a critical aspect to balancing this promise and peril as my fellow witnesses have said is AI literacy and investing in professional development for educators and support for students to ethically
use this technology america's education is at a critical juncture hindered by significant gaps in our own public infrastructure that present barriers to innovation that put our economic prosperity and frankly our national security at risk relying solely on state
level action for AI literacy and AI deployment is a recipe for fragmentation and missed opportunity in education we've seen this before with a patchwork of student privacy and data laws that create market failures for industry
stifle startups and limit our ability to harness technology to support educators students and families ai's nature transcends state lines making a federal framework critical for interstate commerce and essential for maintaining national competitiveness industry alone
cannot carry this burden across the board cuts to the US Department of Education National Science Foundation Department of Commerce and other federal agencies pose a significant threat to our nation's ability to meet these demands including vital education
technology support directly to states and districts imagine an education system empowered by artificial intelligence a force as transformative as electricity the automobile the internet with decisive national action America can create robust infrastructure
for AI and education unlocking personalized learning enhancing teacher effectiveness and securing our global leadership by supporting schools and districts the stakes could not be higher either the United States boldly leads securing prosperity human flourishing
and technological sovereignty for future generations or we lose a race as important to this nation as the race for space was thank you thank you very much and lastly I'll recognize uh Mr schis for your testimony
chairman Kylie Ranking Member Bonamichi and the rest of the members that are here today i just want to say thank you for the opportunity it's been a really interesting 18 hours getting here i didn't think I was going to make it with the flight cancellations but I am here and I'm honored to be here uh to answer a few questions for you guys i want to
take this in a little different direction you have my written testimony but and my written testimony goes all over the place there's 10 or 12 topics there so I really want to cover a couple today that I think are the most important first and foremost is is uh workforce development uh that is that is
something that we need to be focusing on in the K12 world i can tell you this I did a presentation a couple of weeks ago for business and industry it was open to anybody that could come or or wanted to come and and we had people from IT we had people from insurance we had people from banking we had people from all
walks of life coming into this and really the the point of all of this is AI is going to be involved in every branch of of business moving forward it doesn't matter where we go or what we do and that's global that's not just Mississippi that's not just the US that's globally as well we're going to
see AI in everything that we do it is going to be the new industrial revolution and a lot of times in education we're the last ones to change you know it takes us a long time to get things moving so I've really tried to be on the front end front end of this and doing a lot of training in our state and teaching people uh how to use this and
and the right ways to use it uh the second thing is is I really want to touch on efficiency this is a big part of what I do in giving these presentations to uh to other school districts uh to other states as well efficiency is where this train is is driven from uh AI can make all of us so
much more efficient and that is teachers that's students that's administrators that's central office personnel uh everything that we do creating our own agents uh that can do things for us is how we create that efficiency and and again it's it's not as hard as people
think it is to to create these things so in the end uh ultimately that's what we're trying to do is create efficiency within schools and get and again I agree with a lot of things that have been said here already i'm not going to rehash a lot of those a lot of those are in my written testimony as well but in the end uh what we need to do is continue to
move forward this is not going anywhere and so we in the K12 world we need to respond to this as quickly as possible uh I want to end with a story quickly and I have an I have an English teacher who has 29 years she she can retire anytime that she wants in fact she called me this fall and said "I'm going
to retire." And I said "I need you to come and talk to me for a few minutes i don't need you to retire." So she came over and had a discussion with me and she said "I just can't do it anymore." She said 'I'm grading papers every night for three and four hours a night it's taking me 8 to 10 days to get this information back to kids i just can't do it i need to be a mom i need to be a
wife i just can't do it anymore and I said "Well can you spend about an hour with me?" And she did so we created an agent for her uploaded the state writing rubric and basically we took everything that she teaches in writing from introductory paragraphs to uh conclusions transitions sentence
structure all of these things and we created an agent for her to use in the classroom so now she doesn't have to take those papers home and grade them and understand the AI is not doing the grading the AI is a tool that she is using to help grade so I think again that just gives you an example of where
we can be so much more efficient in the classrooms uh as administrators as teachers across the board and again um I will certainly take any questions and and again I am so very proud and honored to be here with you guys thank you under committee rule nine we will now
question witnesses under the five-minute rule and I'll now recognize Mr roelly for 5 minutes the representative from Ohio thank you so much Chairman i appreciate that mr chisum I think everyone's a little nervous about AI just in general but also optimistic for
what the future could possibly hold could you share some of your stories with you about students and this toll and the ability to excel them as a student in America absolutely i'm happy to do that uh it it really begins with the teacher you know and again I I don't want you to think
that I'm saying that we need to teach elementary and middle school students how to use AI that's not what we're doing we're really focused on kids that are in 10th 11th and 12th grade and again the idea is to teach them to use this but also to teach them to use this in an ethical way and in our trainings and the things that we do with teachers
in training students what we talk about are really two things and that is if if you can use this as the perfect assistant and the perfect search engine you know you're using it in an ethical way there is a big difference between having an AI program right for you and
an AI program right with you those are two completely different things and what we've seen especially in the writing I just gave you that example from that teacher right you know she she can now do these things what I wasn't paying attention to at the time i was helping her but what we're now doing instead of writing a paper every 10 days we're
writing a paper almost every day so so again and then this opens up other things you know in some of our tech classes as well it gives them new ideas and new ways to take this uh and and I think that is the power of AI is is the idea that it can give you ideas that you haven't thought of because it's it's got
access to the full internet so so again there there are a thousand stories that I could share but that that just gives you an overview of the the direction that we're going and the way that we're using it but I will tell you it starts with the teacher it starts with administrators and teachers if they're not on board first our kids are not going to use it in the right way i
really appreciate that and uh you know being a parent and also looking back in my own mind's eye when you look at a subject like AI it's a little contradictory in my own mind about the love and the hate and the scariness of it i think you know the idea they could cure cancer with AI and you could have these kids learn in ways they never
possibly could but do you have a little quick piece of advice for mom and dad that maybe are a little bit worried about the guard rails you know some of us were raised you know watching the Terminator and I mean that's obviously hopefully not could ever happen but do you have anything to calm down mom and dad you know I get that a lot in every
pre every presentation I give is there there is a healthy fear and I think we should have a healthy fear of it uh you know I think for parents it is the communication piece with their own kid and it is making sure that they are also teaching good habits to kids with this you know I think one of the scary things
is and there are models out there that are completely open that have no guardrails and I think that's one thing that scares me a little bit you know you can actually go to olama.com and you can download any model that you want some have the guardrails taken off if a kid is in the tech world and knows how to do this that that can be a scary
proposition for a child so so I think again monitoring what your kids do and having good conversations on what uh what good behavior on this looks like is no different than social media or using the internet in general i appreciate that also and finally probably my most
passionate question I have for you uh I was on school board for eight years and I worked with students very closely i was very uh hands-on approach especially when I was the president of the school board but I I want to take focus on AI and I want to concentrate on a IEP or a 504 plans are probably my top priority
that I've always been in school and I know a lot of moms out there and dads are worried about this can you talk about AI and the potential to help our students with disabilities and how exciting that could be for their future and learning oh my goodness that's fabulous my wife is actually a special education director in the district so uh
I've I've created several things for our teachers to use and and I think the the best part of this is you can take a student's data and again uh this is something we may bring out at some point we have our own AI server in the district so we don't have to worry about furpa laws okay so we could take the uh the students assessment scores and we
can match those to state assessments and then we can use the power of these AIs to actually script an individual plan for that kid with a path to proficiency so so I think that's the exciting part about this and literally that is done in 20 or 30 seconds we upload a couple of
PDFs we tell it what we want it to do i've already pre-train this in the background to do what I want it to do and in the end it gives that kid a short-term medium-term and long-term plans that are developed around that individual child as opposed to uh just the entire classroom so again that's one
of the things that excites me the most about this and that could probably be even flipped on to like higher ed if you go to the university or whatever because it's so individualized for that particular student it could be a growing tool that that child grows into adulthood with that correct yes sir 100%
i don't I don't think this stops at K12 honestly I don't think this stops at college i think we're going to see this moving into the business world knowledge is going to be something for everybody now and I think that's what's changing in the world of AI you know we used to pay we pay doctors lots of money right but now everybody's going to have access
to this specialized training that they've had for years so so again I think I don't think it stops in K12 and college i think that rolls right into adulthood as well well how exciting thank you i yield my time back chair thank you very much uh the ranking member Miss Bonamichi of Oregon is recognized for five minutes thank you Mr
chairman miss Moat we we spoke about the uh Trump administration's plans to dismantle and abolish the Department of Education and what that would mean to uh not only the K12 system but institutes of higher education informed policym civil rights etc uh so could you
summarize um what in in your opinion from your work as a technologist what would dismantling the department of education mean for students and our locally driven public education system especially regarding the use of AI uh in K12 schools and then I want I want to have time for another question too about
professional development absolutely thank you so much i think we have to recognize that as you shared in your opening statements conversations about curriculum conversations about what's happening in the classroom are inherently a local context but the Department of Education provides
critical support to districts across this country and resources particularly around education technology there are over 13,000 public school districts in this country not all of them can have a Mr chisum who builds his own AI server
they need cyber security expertise they need interoperability and privacy expertise they need the ability to pick up the phone and call someone at the Office of Civil Rights and ask questions about whether or not the use of this tool is within the bounds of the law we
can't expect that expertise and capacity to be built in every school district in this country and so if we remove those supports if we remove the critical research and development function about what works for whom and under what conditions at the US Department of Education I worry that local schools and
districts won't actually be empowered to make the decisions that they should be making about what's taught what tools and how we support educators and students throughout this country thank you and I'm sure everyone here recognizes the importance of professional development and you know educators have various levels of skills
when it comes to to technology so so I want to ask you you you noted in your testimony at one point that there was a a risk of over reliance on AI that that may in fact diminish critical thinking and creative problem solving i also want to just acknowledge Dr durban said something about the importance of the
most soughtafter skills communication critical thinking problem solving teamwork so how how would um professional development how does that make a difference and how would it prevent or present new opportunities for educators how can it inform educators about the risks of AI and how does the
elimination of the office of educational technology and cuts to these professional development programs affect uh opportunities for teachers who are using or want to use more AI so I'm going to introduce a critical concept I hope to this committee called
humans in the loop in terms of technology this is the idea that when an IEP is generated by AI there's still a special education teacher or a special education coordinator who's looking at that IEP and saying "Does this match the
student that I see in front of me?" AI is never going to replace the fundamental human enterprise that is education so how do we equip every teacher with the necessary literacy skills to work alongside this technology to be stewards of minor data to protect
data privacy and security to choose the right tools and to stay engaged in this technology we can only do that if we support AI literacy and professional development for educators throughout this country let's be honest when I was running my school I had a lot on my
plate frankly like teachers have more on their plate today than they did when I was running my school in Brooklyn there are challenges with youth mental health there's ways to meet the workforce demands there's questions from parents there's increased need to close academic
achievement gaps we need to be able to support educators and not just add another thing to their plate they need the learning they need the skills and they need the understanding of this technology if we expect them to adopt it for the efficiencies that we're talking
about here today the personalization but also the ability to move forward thank you and and you mentioned data security and privacy key issues i also serve on the committee on science space and technology and was a member of the uh bipartisan AI task force and I hope everybody in this building is listening
to all of the testimony here today where everyone is emphasizing the importance of data security and privacy and I hope that we can get that done on a bipartisan basis i just in my remaining few seconds I want to ask Dr raphael Bear you talked about the importance of federal research where have you seen the
most beneficial research being done when it comes to artificial intelligence and education i think the role of federal research is is absolutely critical federal research helps to signal what is important it provides at scale an ability to look at
whether things are truly relevant under what conditions they're working and whether or not we're getting the kind of return on investment that we would expect from that level and where are you seeing that research where the beneficial research what agencies have been doing that what agencies at the
federal level are doing that um I think you have a number of different agencies on the federal level who've been doing strong research i think for states it's about the signaling that the federal government does in putting out that research and being able to stand behind that research thank you and as as I yield back Mr chairman when it comes to
artificial intelligence I always have five hours of questions and I only get five minutes so thank you thank you the representative from Pennsylvania Mr thompson is recognized for 5 minutes chairman ranking member thank you so much for this hearing uh first of all uh Miss Bode I want to say I I I couldn't
agree with you more i mean AI is incredible opportunities but it doesn't replace our teachers it makes them more effective and AI without uh uh either HI or RARI human intelligence or real intelligence um is um it's just not
going to get it done it may mislead us well um as we've heard today artificial intelligence presents a unique opportunity to rapidly advance the educational landscape for for students with disabilities in just the last two decades we've seen enormous growth and success of assist of technology in
aiding these students and I believe AI presents the next frontier in helping to ensure all students have access to a high quality appropriate education that best fits their abilities maybe that's why we haven't gotten around to doing our job of reauthorizing individuals
with disability education act you know because with this new uh frontier we could be taken into consideration as as we actually do the reauthorization of IDA it's long overdue um Dr u Rafelbear I I know AI is making possible a
development of new screening tools and assist of technology such as screen readers uh given your previous experience as a special education teacher and thank you for doing that uh could you talk more about the benefits AI adoption might have for special
students with special needs yes thank you for that question i'm really excited as a former special education teacher about some of the power and the potential particularly when it comes to things like screeners i think there are so many opportunities to learn more about our students and to be
able to use that information in connected ways to give us a fuller picture about each individual student helping to unlock new ways to think about supporting them but I also think that like all things this is all very new and I think being able to really
understand and look at the impact of this and see whether or not these screeners and these tools are working the way that we would expect and for what types of students and under what conditions is such an important research function that we need to continue to
explore i think that there has been some really promising early research um recently out of Ector County in Texas where they were looking at the way in which AI could support not the students but the actual tutors the individuals
who are going in and providing support to those students and looking at tutors at different skill level so those who were lower on their skill level those who were medium in their skill level and those that were said to be higher performing and what they found was that AI supported all of them but particularly those that were lower and
middle performing as a special education teacher that's really exciting that means that once we have that information from these screeners and we can better pinpoint areas that we need to support our students that there are promising and encouraging results from the research around how AI might help all of
the adults who are working with our students but particularly those that need more support themselves to better differentiate and scaffold for those students um and that's something that really excites me you do you believe that both teachers and schools at this point have the resources they need to
ensure students with disabilities can take advantage of these potential benefits i think the resource question is is always a really tricky one there's a role at every level in terms of resource resources there's a federal role there's states prioritizing resources and then I
think the private sector has a really critical function to play in this world of AI and I think being able to bring everyone together and doing so in ways where they're partnering effectively and sharing research and information is a vital function and it's a vital function
of our states it is imperative that our states are leading on this and that our states are collecting data and information and reporting transparently and publicly so that individuals understand what this looks like and how these resources are being used and to
what impact well with with benefit usually comes some type of risk and and so for example I imagine the risk of AI generated images the the spread of bullying tactics or even AI that has not been properly programmed to work with specific learning disabilities could
impact special needs students more than others um u and I look forward to talking with you offline because I'm going to be run out of time here but basically looking to see what risk do you see AI adoption posing particularly
for those students who who would who you would advise school leaders to balance those risk with the the AI benefits i think that's a conversation that we that we need to have as we as we pursue this so I look forward to speaking with you further about this i think it is one of the most important and critical topics
that you all could undertake thank you so much chairman I yield back the representative from York Mr manion is recognized for 5 minutes thank you Chairman Kylie and Ranking Member Bamichi for holding this hearing today thank you to the witnesses for
your detailed testimony and recommendations um AI holds potential in the classroom and outside of the classroom and uh it can improve I believe uh you know K12 education and be an important tool for teachers that
utilize it particularly as it relates to students entering the workforce um I of course share the same concerns of many members of uh of this committee that we must be thoughtful in our approach and um that the opportunities that come with
AI also come with a variety of risks as we further integrate AI into the classroom um we have to ensure that it supports and not supplants the essential roles of teachers uh and the broader purpose of
education as a former teacher I believe that uh it's much more than academics it's about developing well-rounded individuals that can think critically constructively engage with their peers and communities and successfully navigate an ever complex world um my
question is for Miss Moat um your testimony mentions a common concern about AI uh that if not used properly may negatively impact students social emotional development could you elaborate on that please absolutely so I think all the witnesses
have talked about the skills that employers are going to demand in an AI empowered world critical thinking working in multifunctional teams thinking about how to do creative problem solving that happens when you work alongside and with humans so I'm
just going to ask you about the future that we might want so recently a Stanford study found that a tool called replica AI which allows young people to create a digital twin uh to engage in conversations with reduce suicidal
ideiation by 3% that's great 3% if we get any change in young people's mental health and suicidal ideiations that's great but last year the CDC released a study which said one meaningful connection with a human in a school a
bus driver a teacher a coach reduces suicidal ideiation in young people by 33% do we want 3% or 33% i would prefer for my young children to have those meaningful connections with adults who are helping them navigate
this technology work alongside it and thinking about how to have those skills that employers will demand thank you for that my follow-up question was actually going to be about um the identification of uh pseudo suicidal warning signs so I think I'm going to
leave your testimony right there and um and yield back to the chair the representative from Indiana Mr mesmer mesmer is is recognized for five minutes thank you Mr chairman uh Dr ray Flebear in your written testimony you
said that states are ideally positioned to to support districts in making locally grounded decisions that align with their unique goals you touched on this during your testimony but what role do you think states can play uniquely in AI adoption where individ individual
districts might struggle thank you for that question states are first and foremost the ones who set the vision for where things are going within their state and they do so through deep community engagement and and understanding where their constituents
are and that is only more true in this moment around AI i think states also play a critical data collection role we saw this with internet access and the differences in the kind of quality of access and the unevenness between what students had access to even within a
school setting versus what they might have at home or an after school and we need to look at that in the same way with AI we know that students are going to have very different experiences and and we're already seeing that in early survey work where we're seeing higher socioeconomic status students who have
more access to paid versions of AI those are important things that states should be looking into and should be collecting data about the second area that we suggest in ISO group's framework for state education agencies is the concept
of an AI assurance lab we think states are uniquely positioned to set up a lab that creates public transparency around what tools are being vetted by scientists and researchers from within the state thinking about bringing task forces with other representatives on it
including having parents and caregivers a part of those labs and not just doing the approvals on the front end but also rigorously and often uh doing more research on the outputs of tools that are approved can help to give people more confidence and just understanding
about all of this and we think is an important role that states can play thank you dr doorin you mentioned uh that about 25 states are you know have or are developing official guidelines and policies for K12 AI education
on a whole do you think these states are rising to the challenge and giving the districts the information they need or do these guidelines lack specificity and clarity thank you for that question um in regarding what different states legislation like I had mentioned in the
written there are about 45 states now that are considering AI um most of those are not directed specifically at education however the trickle down will inevitably be that that will affect education the thing that I think that comes out clear and I can point to
yesterday's Florida Senate discussion uh in the commerce committee about AI is that the majority of these states are focusing on further research which is as my panelists have uh other witnesses have noted that's the important part at this point we need more data before we
make these decisions so those states that are beginning to really look at what AI deployment looks like both in workplace and in education they're the ones who are going to excuse me they're the ones who are going to lead that conversation have there been pretty robust collaborative efforts between states that you've seen um I honestly
don't know how states are talking to other states okay thank you you'll be yield back the rest of my time the representative from Connecticut uh Representative Hayes is recognized for five minutes thank you and thank you to our witnesses for being here today to
testify advanced instructional technologies can be transformative enhancing both teaching and learning however any implementation of AI technology in the classroom should maximize both safety and privacy while
also advancing while also advancing equity and fairness miss Smoke recently the Office of Education Technology or OET at the Department of Education was eliminated as part of a reduction in the a reduction in force at the agency oe
played an integral role in developing and implementing policies and initiatives on education technology what has been the role of OT and how has this office assisted states in the implementation of AI technologies in the classroom from your perspective
well I think it's important to name that OE really puts out guidelines and really best practices for states and districts to follow providing that necessary expertise and knowledge that frankly would be impossible for there to be an AI expert in every district to be able
to do ways to communicate to parents who say that their schools right now aren't communicating with them about AI 83% of parents have said in an in a common sense survey that they haven't heard anything from their schools about generative AI as a parent we know that
we need to be working alongside our educators to provide that critical guidance but I want to talk to you about something very quickly which is a foundational layer of data privacy security and interoperability which every technology needs whether it's AI
or it's cyber security from 2002 sorry from 2022 to 2023 there was a 105% increase in known ransomware attacks against K12 and higher education institutions state and local cyber security grant programs were provided
not only by the Department of Education but also by CISA and other entities that provided critical support for not just AI but technology as a whole without that guidance without that knowledge without that expertise states and districts will have to navigate this
changing technology on their own thank you i appreciate that and to your point it is very important this is something I've been saying all month that people understand the role of the Department of Education in providing frameworks and guidelines these things are implemented
at the local level but in many districts they don't have the resources or the knowledge or even basically the skill set to pursue aggressively uh emerging technologies and things like that um especially in a field that is moving as
quickly as AI earlier this month the Department of Education eliminated half of their staff additionally President Trump signed an executive order calling for the dismantling of the department miss Mo again how does the elimination of OE and the calls to dismantle the
department entirely impact the role of the federal government in supporting access and deployment of safe AI technologies in the classroom well I think everyone here has talked about access and how important it is for us to be thinking about access and so I want to think about the role of
the essential frameworks and connectivity that have powered our communities and the ability to use that technology the US Department of Education has supp provided that support the US Department of Commerce has provided that support cisa has provided that support we talk about the need for
states to be able to drive connectivity to drive access but they wouldn't have been able to do that without universal service funds they wouldn't have been able to do that without the digital equity act title two title four dollars in order to lead professional development so if we really want there
to be the type of infrastructure that allows all students to thrive we need to invest in institutions that can provide that capacity thank you i appreciate that because I can tell you even within the school district where I worked in my
school our computer and techn technology classes were taught by teachers not practicing professionals in the field so the ability to have outsiders come in with additional support or professional development which is something that the Department of Education provides for
school districts across the country is not only critical and fundamental but it is necessary especially when we're talking about something like AI where the technology is advancing so quickly the safety of our students has to be a critical focal point um I don't have
much time but I'm going to ask a question if maybe you could submit the answer for the record that would be great but just some ideas on what local school districts can take steps that local school districts can take when vetting AI technology to ensure that student access is tailored to
educational content and improves engagement but also um does not allow disruptions in learning or uh many of the other things that we saw thank you and for that with that I yield back the representative from Utah Mr owens is
recognized for five minutes thank you and I want to first of all thank the witnesses for participating this very timely um use of AI and education if we want our children and our education to be at the forefront of the world we need to start adapting the latest technologies for the use in classrooms in a safe and responsible manner and I
look forward to um again talking with the witnesses about this it's probably one of the more important conversations we're going to have in a bipartisan way uh Dr doberin um Doorin one tricky aspect of AI adoption in schools is assessing the cognitive impact you mentioned in that further
research might be helpful to understand uh how AI generated content and automated uh problem solving might affect students ability to crit think critically and that highlights a real concern uh while it's obviously a rapid rapidly growing field how does research
base uh tell us so far of AEI's impact on critical thinking and uh what type of additional research would be helpful thank you for that and yes indeed uh that as as as other witnesses have said research right now is one of the keys
and what we don't have regarding cognitive development right now is long-term effect research and we have data that both shows the improvement in critical thinking and problem solving skills when AI is in use and we also
have data that also shows that some students are turning to the technology to do the work for them i think that the real key here for educators has a lot to do with demystifying how these technologies actually work in the conversation we've had thus far we tend
to talk about AI as a single thing ai does this AI can do this ai is an umbrella term for a lot of different kinds of technologies and so when we start looking specifically at cognitive development part of what we have to think about is how we're using those
various kinds of AIs in various context this is one of the reasons that in my work and this was also brought up by one of the other witnesses earlier that I emphasize that this is about augmentation not automation all AI all AI requires three things fantastic
computing process lots of data and human expertise what was referred to as human in the loop a moment ago if we can influence that then part of what we're inter inherently influencing also is that role of cognitive development that the human is the one running the process
that to me is where the research has to unfold is how that expertise gets manifest okay thank you so much uh Dr uh Riflebear uh you highlighted the importance of state autonomy and implementing AI literacy and integrating AI tools into the K through2 education
as AI adoption grows across school systems how can we ensure that all states can develop the necessary frameworks and support structures to ensure the safe and effective AI integration well ISO group has built now two frameworks one that is been developed
for state education agencies and one for district superintendent that was based off work that we've been doing with a working group of 40 different districts and states across the country beyond creating these frameworks which are grounded within the political operational technical and fiscal realities of AI implementation and
giving department by department questions to start to consider we've also rolled out a three- tiered process that begins with deep stakeholder engagement our belief is that there is no work that should be getting done on AI that isn't starting first with an incredible amount of listening within
your community and within your state we think that you go from that part of the process to developing ethical guard rails and principles based on the kinds of conversations that are coming up in your community using that to then develop guidance and then from there you
can go into larger scale optimization i think what ends up happening so often though is that states start to feel pressure and in turn districts start to feel pressure that they need to do something they need to show that they're being responsive well-intentioned
organizations will provide templates of resources and then often you'll hear all these data points that you know 90% of states have guidance that's up on their websites but it hasn't trickled down and it's to the comment that was made earlier about the reality that many
parents don't feel like they're even hearing about AI well that's because there's too many templatized guidance and resources being provided without starting with deep stakeholder engagement and listening and bringing these conversations to our communities we're hearing over and over again from
the leading providers that we're moving closer to AGI right the idea that artificial intelligence will have human-like capabilities that means that we have to be doing even more around stakeholder engagement and communication to make sure that all parents and
citizens really understand that thank you thank you so much i just wanted to uh and I'm running out of time here um uh to the I just want to say real quick to the point of um Department of Education uh that shield to sh has has sailed uh we now have to make sure that innovators like yourself are part of
this conversation and not bureaucrats in DC and I'm excited about the fact we're finally going to be putting this power back in the hands of of of uh parents and school teachers and those in the local level so I'm excited about that process uh with that I'll yield back
representative Lee of Pennsylvania is recognized for five minutes thank you Mr chairman and uh thank you so much to the panel for your testimony artificial intelligence and its algorithms are built by humans and they're trained on data that's created
by humans which means it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that AI often reinforces the same implicit and explicit biases that humans carry um classism or sexism racism abbleism i just want to really lift up that we
can't ignore the capacity of AI to deepen the systemic inequalities already facing marginalized communities and AI in K through2 schools isn't any different with a dismantled department of education where a drastically reduced office of civil rights or excuse me office for civil rights is being
weaponized to undercut students civil rights K to2 schools are unprepared to address the vast inequities that can come with AI so we should be especially concerned about rapidly ly expanding school surveillance AI that includes facial recognition technology with error
rates of 35% for black girls and online chat monitoring and so-called aggression detection that is layered with racialized assumptions about communication much of this surveillance technology is an extension of histories of scientific racism and eugenics miss
Moat in your testimony you referenced a resource created last year by the Department of Education on avoiding the discriminatory use of artificial intelligence the Department of Education under the last administration created this resource to inform schools of how
AI can violate student civil rights it included examples like facial recognition consistently misidentifying black students and predictive algorithms flagging black students as more likely to carry out disciplinary infractions so without resources like this from the Department of Education are schools equipped to keep students civil rights
intact when deploying AI surveillance it's important to name that there's no tool as you mentioned in education that is without bias every tool in use in America's classrooms today has algorithmic inreliability or bias built
in because it's built by humans and as you so aptly mentioned it repeats the bias that's already in existing data sets or the bias that is held by the developers themselves there's tools to mitigate this effect something called
reweing which allows you to actually index for students with disabilities or students from subgroups but in order to do that to have the data to be able to train those models to be more equitable to be more fair to offer opportunity for
every student you need data and data infrastructure and right now we are seeing a dismantling of our data infrastructure at the federal level the very data sets that would allow industry that would allow researchers that would allow others to use that data to be able
to train these tools to mitigate bias it's really important that we name that there's no way to eliminate bias but we can provide guidance like the guidance you mentioned provide data for training and work alongside industry to mitigate
bias that exists in these tools yeah thank you but the fact that we can no longer rely on the Department of Education uh to serve its key functions including its jobs of safeguarding students against discriminatory AI surveillance is especially concerning since school surveillance technology is
a multi-billion dollar industry that seems to really um elude uh oversight and accountability uh so Miss Mo do do the companies selling their their AI surveillance to schools typically evaluate their algorithms for racial bias and how important is it that these
companies evaluate and monitor their products to mitigate that bias one challenge for all companies that are using AI right now is they can only look at the data that they have themselves so let me uh go back to my days of making copies in the copy room has anyone ever
made a Xerox of a of paper and then you make a Xerox of it again and then you make a Xerox of it again and over time that copy degrades if you only test your tool against the data that you have yourself it's not going to be able to surface the bias or to surface the
challenges that might be within that tool and so we need to provide an infrastructure for industry to walk alongside schools and districts to be able to make sure their tools are equitable thank you i just want to really quickly in a 2023 survey by the Center for Democracy and Technology almost 40% of teachers reported that
sensitive student data was being shared with law enforcement and being used in predictive policing algorithms to identify children who may commit future criminal behavior and this was closer to 50% of teachers at schools receiving title one funding and closer to 60% of special education teachers um I wanted
to mention that before I kind of just conclude because without guidance accountability and oversight from a functioning department of education AI surveillance in schools will exacerbate the school to prison pipeline and cause irreversible harm uh to black brown and other vulnerable communities it's why I introduced a a piece of legislation last
year that will require the federal agency using AI to establish a dedicated civil rights office to identify prevent and address algorithmic biases uh but that's just scratching the surface we know that there's so much more to do so I thank you so much for your time and I yield back
i'll now recognize myself uh for five minutes um one of the reasons that I uh wanted to hold this this hearing on AI and education is not only because I think the potential is so uh incredible in the specific context of education but also because I think it offers a window
into uh just how transformational uh the uh the technological changes that we're experiencing right now uh are going to be across all sectors of society which I think is something that uh really policy makers and uh and the public at large is
is starting to get uh to wake up to a little bit and there's been uh you know some references to that during today's hearing specifically Miss Mo you mentioned this is a technology on par with electricity uh Miss uh Ra Rafael Bear is am I saying that correctly close
enough rael Bear um you you mentioned that uh the leading labs are increasingly talking about the arrival of AGI artificial general intelligence so I just wanted to give each of you a few uh moments to expound on on those ideas well an arrival technology right this is
electricity this is the internet this is automobiles um you used to have to pick up the phone and call a dispatcher to call a taxi now you can do it from your phone and so arrival technologies displace workers they can require new skills and competencies but they also
require a level of support in disrupting of existing systems so that they can be embraced across industry rather than having them replace humans i think the work that uh is happening right now in terms of what Congress can do our
colleagues have really mentioned the need for research and development the support for public data and infrastructure the need for some set of guidelines and guard rails supporting educator professional development providing equitable access and this body
really convening collaboration and dialogue if we're to meet this moment we need to do it together great i look forward to the opportunity you bet thank you for the opportunity to to share more on this i I think that the fact that we are hearing over and over
again that we are getting closer and closer to AGI is something that concerns me a great deal that this is not a conversation that is more commonplace across America right now the fact that once again we're in a moment where it feels like we're asking our education
system to take on something that's actually a societal issue and I see this and hear this every single day from state and district superintendent who earnestly want to move forward on this work but are really concerned about cyber security and data they need to
have far more expertise and that is a critical role of the federal government that is a critical role of a role like a national cyber security director who should be helping to make sure that we have the safest systems possible around cyber and data so that states and
districts can do their correct role which is to lead these conversations locally and to make sure that they have visions around artificial intelligence and the kind of workforce upskilling that's required that matches their local context and their local needs with them being able to take off their plate this
level of expertise and oversight around keeping their systems cyber free in terms of cyber security issues thanks very much and uh Mr chisum and uh Dr doorin um I wanted to if we time permitting uh to pose a question to you as well there's been a lot of discussion about further research that's needed uh
some of which has already happened uh if you could pose one kind of urgent research question when it comes to evaluating the effectiveness of certain AI tools uh what would it be like one possibility for me would be the immersiveness of of the tool you know you could have uh a uh sort of animated
Einstein teach you physics you could have a textbased Einstein teach you physics if we have a sufficiently developed VR you could actually float through the cosmos as it happens so that might be one area to look at but what would be the research questions that are most urgent i'll go ahead uh I really think I
love the idea especially with students but I'm really focused on the teacher side of things because we have to have teachers to get to students so so for me it's it's really teacher efficacy i think that's the big thing what how can we use this to make them better and more efficient at what they do so again I
don't have that 28 29 30-year veteran that wants to walk out the door she wants to say you know the teacher that I talked about earlier she's staying with us she's not going to retire so so I to me it it is about teacher efficacy and I think that is that is the the primary focus for me great dr doppin I would
pick up on something we've already been discussing and that's access um I think there needs to be longer term research on not just where access is available for instance in Appalachia and the Southwest where broadband is not as easily accessible but more so what happens in the distinction between our
students who only have access to the free uh data sets the free LLMs G GPT Gemini Copilot as opposed to those students who have the socioeconomic access to proprietary data sets and to platforms that are more disciplinarily
specific we need to figure out the differences of what happens with those access points that that is an interesting question i mean one of the things we see happening though is that what is the paid tier this month is available to the free tier next month so uh there is this sort of um you know democratizing uh aspect to the
technology uh with that the representative from Florida for Miss Wilson is recognized for five minutes thank you chairman Kylie and ranking member Bonameishi for today's hearing thank you so much and thank you to our witnesses for being here
today as you know public schools are the backbone of our democracy and as AI continues to be implemented in our education system we must work in addressing its potential
and worry about the disparities that come with this implementation clearly education has some big challenges with AI but this committee is missing the real crisis the dismantling of the Department
of Education it's absurd to envision a bright future for our students when the Office of Education Technology vital for AI oversight has just been shut down
and it's even more absurd for this subcommittee to ignore the wrecking ball crashing into our public school systems across the nation right now by abolishing the Department of
Education this is like worrying about the ship's wifi access while the Titanic is sinking with this I have a a few questions miss Miss Noe can AI work
without human input and what are the consequences of gutting the very workforce responsible for ensuring AI is used ethically and effectively
so can AI work without human input no and in fact generative AI and artificial intelligence systems have to be trained on both our responses and the data that's being used now let's just talk about uh what happens when we uh take
away data that could be used to train these systems effectively alongside humans right now we're seeing uh families lose access to information on the college and career scorecard being able to make critical decisions about what's happening or what choices they
make with the loss of iPads data or the loss of edfacts data or if you're moving from one community to the other not being able to know the quality of your schools or how to compare one school to the other this vital support that is provided not just by the humans who are
helping guide local states lo excuse me local districts and states but also that are guiding families through the provision of open access data sets and knowledge is a critical role that if we lose our families will be less informed
our students will be less prepared and our educators will be left without the resources they need amen uh Miss note with the office of civil rights being sidelined or weakened
how are students particularly those from marginalized commun marginalized communities supposed to ensure their rights are protected if AI tools amplify existing
disparities because they will i want to return to I don't think an educator wants to harm a student but they need to know about these tools they need to know about the tools that are being used they need to have research about what's the most effective tool in
order to make the right choice for a student every educator in this country wants students to succeed i know that because I meet them every single day but they don't necessarily have the expertise to know that this tool or that tool is better that the $99 edition of
KIGO is better than the free tutor and they don't have the resources to make those choices and to navigate those deep deep challenges that they have to meet young people if we want to overcome achievement gaps we need to make sure that our educators have the knowledge
expertise and capacity to make the right choices for students alongside families that can only happen when we have that knowledge when we have that capacity that data and that expertise miss how do we prevent AI from becoming
just another tool that benefits already advantage and leaves behind the same black and brown students who have historically been underserved and uh who have no computers
thank you i think equitable access is something every single witness has talked about and so I think Congress needs to renew their investment in public connectivity infrastructure they need to have targeted programs to ensure that all communities have access to the technology the hardware reliable
internet connectivity and the adequate technical support to benefit every community in this country thank you i yield back the representative from North Carolina Mr harris is recognized for five minutes thank you Mr chairman and thank you to all of you on the panel for
the uh incredible testimony you've given today i appreciated the opportunity to read uh through your testimony that was uh submitted to us prior uh I have a couple of questions and and really the first one is going to be to you Mr chisum um your written testimony
mentioned that inaccurate or biased content is a big challenge with AI adoption and as you pointed out AI models are only as good as the underlying data that they're trained on and that's what concerns me research
from Carnegie Melon University revealed that large language model bots trained on the internet since 2016 show more polarization than bots trained before Donald Trump's first election in fact the research also showed that bots
trained from books were more socially conservative than bots trained through the internet or social media there's in fact numerous examples of left-leaning political bias that uh shows up when asked if a white Christian man should be
ashamed google Gemini lists a variety of liberal buzzwords like systemic injustices and marginalized communities when asked if a black female lesbian should be ashamed it says absolutely not
the free version of chat GPT is unable to acknowledge Donald Trump as the current president and even says that Joe Biden is in the White House in 2025 now I point all that out Mr chisum to come back to you as superintendent of a school district there in Pearl
Mississippi how do you make sure in that role that your district's AI use doesn't amplify existing biases or spread false information i think that's a fabulous question and that's got a lot of answers to it but I
will tell you that some of the big companies are working on this i mean they they do realize that some of that bias is built in and in the end I mean there's going to be bias in every computer program that you create so for us as a district we have created our own server so we get to do the training ourselves so I think that's one big
advantage for us and I will say we've discussed equity as well uh we are actually working with a huge internet company in Mississippi Casepire and we're actually working on trying to make our model available for all school districts in the state of Mississippi completely free uh so so we're working
on that so so again is there a way to script it all out absolutely not not yet but I think we're moving forward to that so I think it's good training and and it's really having it's good communication it's people when they see those things happen is pointing those things out and then we can go back and
make adjustments to that model even on our end on our server but but I can tell you again even using the uh model such as chat GPT they know that this is a problem and they are working on it i I'm I'm on a computer call with them about every two weeks with open AI so this has been a discussion that we've had uh and
I don't think there's a perfect answer for it but I do know that they are working on it and certainly that's something that we will monitor 24 hours a day because we want to make sure that the information that we get back is good and I will also say even using the larger language models like chat GPT if you're on the paid version or even the
free version of that you can go in and script some of this out yourself you know if you tell it how you want it to respond you tell it the websites that you would like for it to go to to look for information you know I have that scripted into mine so now I know where that information is coming from so I realize that now that information that's
coming back is not from Wikipedia it's good information from the sites that I determine that I want it to come from so there are ways there are ways around that even though the model itself doesn't fix it and are you are you finding that schools should be wary of the development behind AI bots and be
selective about the programs they use in their schools oh absolutely 100% and I think uh going through all of this information and getting really good information again if we were to go with a company a large company that would be a that would be a multi-week
investigation into what they do and how they do it before I put it in front of kids gotcha thank you sir um Dr raphael Bear in your recommendations for policymakers you mentioned that the federal role should be intentionally limited i agree especially since this
administration and and obviously the direction we're moving will be working to eliminate the federal role in education entirely what would you say to someone who argues that the federal role should be unlimited rather than limited and what kind of detrimental effects
would overregulation have on schools well I think we've we've been talking about this so much in this committee this is moving too fast there is nothing that the federal government would put on paper that isn't going to be outdated even a couple of months from now and it is imperative that states have the
ability and the flexibility to make these decisions within their own context and allowing districts the ability to innovate it's critical that the federal government not play a role in defining things like AI literacy or AI curriculum curriculum and content all should be
left to local levels however I think the place that is really critical is around cyber security and data privacy okay well thank you Mr chairman with that I yield back the representative from North Carolina Miss Adams is recognized for five minutes thank you Mr chairman and thank
you to our witnesses for being here today uh last month Charlotte Meckllinburgg Schools one of the largest districts in North Carolina launched a bold district-wide effort to shape a community vision for AI in education uh they they They're inviting parents and
teachers and students to the table not just to respond to change but to lead it and that's the kind of leadership that we need but instead that the leadership that we're seeing at the federal level is is tying our schools hands with budget cuts with confusion with
political agendas that have absolutely nothing to do with what's best for our most disadvantaged kids the kids on free and reduced lunch the kids who rely on Medicaid the kids whose only option is public school ai is already reshaping
our classrooms and so the real question is how are we helping schools use it responsibly or leaving them to or are we leaving them to figure it out on their own and so here's what I've been hearing from educators from parents and my own daughter who was a public school
principal the promise of AI is real but so are the risks and we've already seen cases where as I reiterate my colleague Representative Lee has said AI tools flag parents for plagiarism at higher rates than their peers and that's not
innovation that's bias plain and simple so Miss Mo AI isn't just showing up in lesson plans it's now embedded in how students are evaluated how feedback is given and how learning is tracked so how can schools ensure that AI tools are
actually supporting equity i know some people think that's a bad word i think it's a good one uh in classrooms not reinforcing bias and what role should the federal government play in setting guard rails to make sure that these tools serve all students
fairly miss Moat thank you uh you actually offered the answer when you're talking about the great work that Charlotte Meckllinburgg is doing right now which is building AI literacy with parents with communities with educators and really putting students and parents
and communities and educators at the center of the work that they're doing you have to be able to ask questions of these tools you have to be able to understand if the results that they're putting out from these models have inaccurate information or might not uh
potentially have the right types of inputs so if we don't build AI literacy in our educators with our parents and with our communities we're not going to be able to use these tools to the best of their advantage well thank and thank you for your great comments about Charlotte Public Schools our They're
wonderful down there at Charlotte our our chair of our school board is sitting out here and I'm happy to see her but while Charlotte public schools are trying to move forward with innovation we're facing real real setbacks just last month we lost over $5 million in federal grants uh funding that helped
high need schools recruit and train diverse teachers and those grants were simply cut because they supported uh DEI i still think those are good words but let's be clear students learn best from teachers who understand them who reflect their communities that kind of
representation isn't a luxury in a district where students represent more than 175 countries it's essential miss Mo we know AI is a powerful tool but it doesn't replace teachers especially not teachers who reflect the lives and identities of the students they serve so
what are the consequences of cutting off funding for programs that recruit and retain diverse teachers well I think every member of this committee can say that we need to keep teachers at the center of the education enterprise and so when we don't have
teachers to serve the communities that they are uh from when we don't have classrooms that are reflective of the communities that uh students are coming from we know actually that that affects student outcomes research shows us that
having a connection with a adult in school not only as I shared before reduces suicidal ideiation but is the single greatest determinant of whether or not student learning outcomes will excel so let me move on and and talk about the data so good policy depends on
good information but last month the Trump administration eliminated nearly $900 million and in contracts from the Institute of Education Sciences the research arm of the Department of Education and that's the same office that helps districts and policy makers
understand what's working and what's not so Miss Moat how does cutting IEES funding impact the school's ability to use AI responsibly and equitably and could that data gap leave underfunded schools even further behind
yes if we don't know what works for whom and under what conditions how can we choose the right tools for students from all backgrounds thank you Miss Mode and if we want students to succeed in the age of AI we can't just chase shiny new tools we have to invest in the people in the research and the infrastructure that
make innovation safe and meaningful and I thank you all very much mr chair I'm going to yield back those few other minutes that I have thank you representative from Pennsylvania Mr mackenzie is recognized for five minutes thank you to the chairman and I
appreciate all the testimony being provided today very important topic integrating AI into our education system has huge potential benefit for our students uh I think we're all aware of even right now in its early stages what
it can do to increase uh educational opportunity and customization for students uh so a lot of benefit there we are also talking about uh some of the elements that we need to be aware of to make sure that we protect privacy and security for our students great topics
uh but earlier we heard from a number of testifiers about bias that can be built into uh the AI systems that are being incorporated into the classroom and I think we're all aware that depending on who uh nurtures or trains the AI they're
going to end up putting out different results at the end of the day uh ultimately I think what we want for our students is a maximally seeking truth AI we want the truth to be provided to our students uh so it shouldn't be a corporation it shouldn't be a foreign
entity uh that is maybe weighing in on on the results that are coming from AI it shouldn't even be uh a politician on this panel saying that we need to rewe results so that we get the accurate outcome that we want for our students uh
so how do we and how should everybody be thinking about what AI we are selecting what actual critiques or reviews of that AI is being made available publicly when we see that bias or misinformation is being included in results and how does
that get communicated to the decision makers in school districts or local entities that are actually picking the AI systems and I'll go uh first uh to Dr for Ray Fulbear thank you so much i'm incredibly thoughtful i think there's a couple of
layers to that answer i think from our perspective we think states having AI assurance labs is one place to be able to examine this having one place where the public has a level of transparency about how the model on the front end before it is approved for use um what it
has gone through to be rigorously tested but then in an ongoing way looking at the outputs of the model knowing that these models evolve over time as people are using them but I think you're also hitting a larger topic that we've talked about a few times about AGI what happens
when we get to a place where we are working alongside models that are doing things at the same level of humans knowing that there's levels of bias within that I think that's where the importance of critical thinking and helping to really infuse in our students
understanding about ethics and ethical considerations is such a critical role of of our K12 system and to be able to make sure that we're bringing those conversations often into these community engagement sessions and thinking about this because we'll never get rid of bias
but we can help to make sure we're shaping a generation of learners who deeply understands the power and importance of human relationship and when and where to use AI and under what conditions and how to evaluate those outputs consistently i'll go to anybody else on the panel do
you guys have any thoughts or uh are there resources available where people can go and see uh which AI systems are actually providing on a whole collectively uh maximally true-seeking
information because uh I think this is going to be a real challenge for everybody that is adopting this uh to have this kind of decision uh made in a classroom it's akin to selecting your curriculum or your textbooks but at the same time there is a lot less
information out there right now about these AI systems so how do you as educators see that i I think that's a fantastic question and I want to reinforce what um Dr rafael Bear has said but I think there's
a step back in asking that question i think uh making the analog to textbooks is very important because we're going to have to think about adoption in the classroom of various platforms in the same way we think about curricular adoptions of textbooks both in finance models and in content models but I think
in answer to your your bigger question this is where the importance of demystifying these tools becomes critical because if we're going to move into the critical thinking position about having students be able to evaluate the information that's put before them they first have to
understand how those systems work what an LLM does where the data is pulled from so that they can begin those evaluative processes in other words by demystifying the function of a generative AI tech allows the student
then to see the working model and understand these are now the questions I have to ask as to resources for identifying which platforms are more viable than others the first thing we have to acknowledge is that what we need is more research and development for
platforms specifically designed for education we do a lot in education of retrofitting to technologies that have already existed and put been put in play in industry and other places we actually need platforms that are designed for education specifically this is why Mr
chisum's approach to having his own independent server and his own model is a very kind of forwardthinking model so I think the demystification process is critical well I will wrap up i we are over time but I want to thank all of you again for your very thoughtful input today i think
this is again an incredibly important topic as we look to advance education in our country uh and I appreciate uh particularly that last point about demystifying the systems because uh I'll date myself very quickly here when I was growing up uh scientific calculators
were a new invention uh but at the same time we were always uh trained to actually understand the fundamentals and the processes before we used the scientific calculators to get the answer in a quicker fashion so thank you again and I yield back the representative from
Illinois Miss Miller is rep is recognized for five minutes thank thank you and thank you to all the witnesses who have come this is very interesting conversation and Mr chisum we've heard a lot about the potential benefits of AI in schools but one of the longstanding
priorities of this committee has been student privacy and so there's a lot that people don't understand or were rightly concerned about when it comes to AI's impact on student privacy you mentioned
this a bit in your testimony but what student privacy pitfalls do you think districts should be aware of and how has your district handled this that's a great question and again uh student privacy we have to fall under furpal laws so we got to make sure we're
in compliance with that it's real simple i don't want to make this oversimplify this but it really is simple if you're using a public entity I don't care if it's OpenAI Grock any of these others you can't put student identifiable information on it or teacher identifiable information so so really
teaching people to scrub files that's the biggest thing if you're if you're going to uh use an Excel file that has this information knowing what you need to take out uh so so that that's a way that we handle that if you're using something like OpenAI however we alleviate that by using our own server
uh so I don't have to worry about FURPA laws because it does not face the internet in any way shape or form so again we've done trainings with teachers and administrators we can put any file that we want on our own server and we don't ever have to worry about student privacy there because it's housed on our own campuses so we don't have to worry
about that so I think I think that's a way to do that and again it's a pretty expensive way to do it however on the flip side if if you're using this as a district such with as with OpenAI you're eventually going to start having to pay for tokens so in the end we as a district have decided that it's going to
be more cost-effective to just go ahead and pay for our own server then try to pay for tokens with one of those as well so hope that answers your question that is the that is the crux of what we do it is it is good training first if you're using a public server and then on the other side we just create our own so we
alleviate the problem all together thank you and I appreciate how you're leading the way there mr chisum I have another question one of the most frequent concerns we hear about AI in schools is that students will use AI as a crutch for example students will ask AI
to write their essays or answer their homework questions i know there's limits to how much a school district can do especially once a student goes home for the day but how are you thinking through these challenges that's probably my favorite question and really we have to
rethink what we do in education i have told our teachers and in all of the presentations that I do that we've got to rethink what we do in the classroom basically we have to control the eight hours that we have we can't worry about other things outside of school because understand they're going to use it so
really we need a heavier focus on what we do in the classroom and control the eight hours that we have uh and that means heavier waiting on grades for the things that we do in classrooms it means that again we have to shift instead of sending things home for kids to write we
need to take care of those things within the classroom and worry about the controllables and and again we can't worry about what happens outside we just have to shift our focus to things like uh having having projects done in in class or having students explain their work why do I care where the information
came from if the student can actually give that information back and teach someone else they know the material that's the ultimate thing that we're trying to do within the district so control the eight hours that we have thank you and Dr doin one especially exciting aspect of AI adoption is the
potential that this technology can transform education for special needs students and I have two grandsons with special needs for instance AI powered programs can facilitate speechto text software or help visually impaired
students participate more fully in class can you talk more about how AI is being used to practically enhance special ed yeah thank you for that question and the first thing I need to say is that I do not have experience in special education
specifically and Miss Moat earlier had addressed some of this and so I defer to her on that what you're talking about specifically are assistant assistive technologies for me in terms of special needs students and also really for any
student one of the most enriching possibilities that we're seeing with AI right now is in customized learning pathways the ability for a student to move through information and content and uh all the things associated with
education in a way that is more effective for that learner now I tend to also put a stop gap on where that becomes beneficial once we get past higher ed into credentiing but I think that customized learning pathways right now are one of the most important things
we're developing particularly in terms of real-time assessment and the ability for students in that moment of assessment to adjust their learning path to see I did not understand this concept i now have this other way of learning about it that to me is one of the most important things we're doing thank you
thank you and I yield back i'll now recognize the ranking member of the full committee Mr scott thank you Mr chairman miss Mo I think it's clear that there's some benefits and some concerns about AI some of the benefits are there
any qu is there any question that AI can expand the capability of a classroom teacher and if so are there areas where it's particularly good or bad language maths science well I'm of the view that AI literacy is
a foundational literacy and frankly AI itself is the best revenge of English teachers because it's all about how do you ask good questions and so when we think about how to build literacy across our disciplines if we really want to realize the productivity gains that Mr
chisum is talking about if we want to think through ways that we can support students with disabilities particularly around early screeners for dyslexia i'm the mom of a dyslexic student would have been so much more valuable if I could have had my son screened earlier so that
I could have intervened earlier ai is allowing teachers to take that practice that used to take weeks into an afternoon as long as they keep a human in the loop and so for me building that competency across all disciplines is
what we need to meet this moment mr scott now you've cautioned about um leaving out human interaction is uh do you have to choose between AI and human interaction no and actually that's not what AI models want you to do ai models want you
to put your human interactions into them so they get smarter and can be trained faster and so when we talk about intelligent tutors adapting to students language or identifying dialectical differences it's because the AI is actually trying to learn from the
interaction that it's having with a person now can the AI help with assessing the progress of a student in the classroom this is a place I think we need to be cautious uh I think we always need to have a human in the loop particularly
when it comes to assessment tools have shown that they disproportionately flag students for cheating when they haven't cheated by race or by dialectical difference for example our rural students and so I think we need to be cautious when we think about assessments
and make sure that we're engaging humans um one of the um access questions is obviously cost how much does all of this cost if you're doing if you're integrating AI into the
classroom is it very expensive i think Mr chisum talked a little bit about the costs that he's taken on in terms of buying a server and buying technology and so it's not just those hardware costs Mr scott it's the training that you need to do it's the
education and I think we are in a situation right now where uh whether you have access to a intelligent tutor like Conigo is about $99 a student i know that that's a decision some school districts can't make right now because they're constrained when it comes to
resources and support it's not just about the tool it's about the training that has to go alongside of it well I guess getting benefits to everyone on an equitable basis what are some of the other barriers
yeah I think when we think about AI's use in education we're going to have to really think about a partnership a partnership with families and communities a partnership with students and frankly a partnership with industry industry is trying right now to do work to make their tools more safe more
effective more transparent more reliable but they need help in terms of guidelines and guardrails and if industry has to conform to 50 different states privacy laws data laws or AI laws imagine what that means for an economy of scale or equitable access to tools if
we're going to ask everybody to build an AI tool for the state of Delaware or the state of Virginia or the state of Colorado we miss the opportunity frankly to be able to appreciate the richness and diversity that we have in the United
States um bias has been mentioned um there are a number of ways uh bias can pop up in AI can you talk about that in the remaining time in 30 seconds okay so uh I'll just give one example you know I
think uh as I said AI uh looks for the interactions that it has with humans and so uh there's some really great research studies that have been done uh that when an AI tool is trained um for example on just assessment it doesn't flag students
uh more or less from one background but if somebody uses a word like y'all which I use all the time uh it flags that student potentially for cheating and so dialectical difference not just race or socioeconomic status are things we need
to be paying attention to thank you Mr chairman the representative from Guam Mr mo is recognized for five minutes thank you Mr chairman so emerging AI technologies have the potential to enhance our quality of life in many ways especially in increasing efficiency and learning
outcomes for students ai may also provide innovative support for students who need individualized learning plans especially for special education however we must be aware of the risk of these technologies especially with privacy
concerns proper safety protocols can mitigate many of these risks and best practice guidance are being constantly issued to mitigate these risks as we enter the future economy preparing our youth to enter the workforce where
employers are increasingly interested in AI into their business models it's especially important many paths towards high earning jobs exist ai and computer science can offer alternative paths
towards highskll employment where many opportunities do not necessarily require a traditional 4-year degree to participate so for my first question uh Dr raelbear you mentioned that implementing AI should reflect the priorities of each
community as employers begin adopting more and more AI tools into their businesses it is critical that we ensure our students are ready to join the modern workforce can you talk specifically about what kind of AI skills employers are looking for
yes thank you i think as we think about this generation who is going to be moving on the thing that they're going to be most critically asked about is just their basic foundations around AI understanding what it is how it works
its limitations its risks and being able to communicate about that but I think what we're going to see over time is much more of a desire for our education setting to take on more of the AI literacy work to evolve from what has been digital literacy which we are now
well past and really starting to understand how to work alongside AI what use cases are appropriate and then how to always think about the relationship with other humans we know how important it is to be able to have relationships to grow high growth high impact teams
and increasingly those kinds of skills are going to be have to have to be ones that were reinforcing in an AI age and the last thing I'd think in all of this is going to be just a huge um undergrounding feeling around ethics i think employers are going to want to
know that students are graduating with a keen understanding about ethical considerations and that's something that gets infused throughout the curriculum it's it's no one subject areas domain but it's why deep stakeholder engagement matters so much to surface the kinds of ethical questions that are being asked
and then use that in real world ways in the classroom uh thank you and for Dr doorin uh in your testimony you mentioned that AI literacy is crucial for students entering the workforce teaching AI may come with many challenges and education
leaders might not know the best way to begin what advice would you give our teachers and education officials that want to ensure students are equipped with skills employers need thank you yes um the first place I would begin and it's been mentioned several
times is this concept of AI literacy um which I think we actually and I've written about this we we need to expand into AI literacy AI competencies and AI fluencies because different work paths require different levels of skill sets specifically from AI in the work that I
do with industry usually the number one topic and it's come up here several times that employers employers are looking for is data security particularly when they're working with their own proprietary data sets so my advice very specifically and I work with lots of educators about this is that we
adopt a model that we have used in the United States for a long time that I call industry to curriculum and what that means is understanding where industry a specific industry is deploying AI and how and then adjusting our curriculum to that we can see this
in a lot of the disciplines we teach particularly in higher ed nursing law engineering these are disciplines that are designed to provide credentials towards specific industries once the industries start determining what exactly they're looking for in terms of AI skills then we adopt curriculum to
that as a way to move education into workplace development excellent thank you last question Dr rick Burr um your professional background is in special education can you speak more about how educators can
leverage AI tools to tailor plans for students enrolled in special ed um I think one of the most exciting places on this is both the ability for educators and caregivers to work together and to use AI to help to simplify what can sometimes feel like a
lot of jargon and technical language and and can make it difficult to best support students and then for educators being able to effectively communicate and provide tips and ways in which families can work at home to best support the students and over time and
provide real pathways thank you thank you Mr chairman thank you panel thank you very much to all our witnesses and I will now recognize uh ranking member Bonamichi for a closing statement uh thank you Mr chairman but but thank you especially to the witnesses for traveling here for your testimony and
bringing your expertise uh on this excellent panel as we conclude one thing is abundantly clear artificial intelligence will play a significant role in shaping the future of education and we should be breaking down rather than creating barriers for the students and the educators who are navigating
this transformation ai and education pres presents tremendous opportunities but also serious challenges as we heard if implemented responsibly it has the potential to enhance learning provide uh personalized instruction equip students with the skills they need to thrive in
an increasingly digital world but without guardrails we will see decreasing access to opportunity a deepening of inequities we're trying to overcome and risk serious privacy and security breaches the Department of Education has been instrumental in
closing opportunity gaps providing students in low-income and rural communities and students with disabilities with access to the resources they need stripping away these protections whether they be it be through the dismantling of the Department of Education's Office of
Educational Technologies or cuts to Title One or IDA or the weakening of the Office of Civil Rights these would all be a grave mistake the federal government would be leaving schools to navigate these challenges exacerbating disparities and failing the very
students who rely most on federal support as we've heard particularly low-income students and students with disabilities we've seen this play out before when the digital divide threatened to leave millions of students behind in the early days of the internet it was federal leadership that helped bridge the gap we cannot repeat history
by allowing AI to widen existing inequities instead we must guarantee that no matter their zip code has access to the tools and knowledge they need to succeed in the classrooms and careers of tomorrow and I know this is the K12 subcommittee but as also a member of the higher education committee we talked
about workforce but one of the things I do want to mention and I think our witness has made a great case for it today when we have a head of an English department and someone who was talking a lot about ethics with do Dr durban and and and uh Dr raphael Bayer uh tech executives I've heard recently say we
don't need just computer science majors and people who code we need people who are philosophers and ethicists as well as we navigate these serious challenges so the stakes could not be higher uh we cannot afford to get this wrong i urge my colleagues to stand with us and defend public education protect vital
resources and provide every student with a fair shot at success and I look forward to the continued conversation thank you again Mr chairman and I yield back thanks very much i I think this has been a great hearing uh I think that uh we have uh moved the ball forward uh in
improving uh a bit our institutional understanding uh of a phenomenon that is really beyond any of our full understanding uh but that we urgently need to grapple with uh nonetheless uh Ms mo likened uh AI to uh electricity
and being what she called an arrival technology uh Miss Rafelbear uh noted that uh the arrival of AGI artificial intel in intelligence could be coming sooner than uh than has been thought uh this is defined differently by different people but generally refers to uh a
system that develops uh capabilities that exceed human capabilities across any uh domain and the conversation about this has been largely limited to the leading labs and those who follow them but it's something that needs to that we all need to be part of throughout the country uh given the uh profound impacts
it's going to have uh on all of our lives uh but today specifically we've gotten a window into how uh the the possibilities offered by AI and education and I think the main takeaway today is that those possibilities really are uh boundless uh Mr uh Chisum noted
that education is often the last change when it comes to technology or perhaps really anything else but uh that really can't be the case here uh because I think we already know enough uh to know that those schools those districts those states that adopt and integrate AI in
the right ways are going to uh do well very well by their students and are going to propel student success and are going to outperform uh those jurisdictions that don't uh and by the way uh in other countries like China uh has been uh very focused on this topic and so our global competitiveness uh is
at stake as well of course in order to do this effectively uh we do need to have professional development which is why I think what Mr chisum is doing been doing throughout Mississippi is uh is fantastic that supports teachers we learned today that most teachers still aren't getting training when it comes to integrating uh AI and I agree with Mr
manion uh fully who said that we need to that AI can support uh and not supplant teachers and in fact we had a great story from Mr chisum about a teacher who was going to retire because you know of all the hours that put in grading and that AI was able to uh entice her to stay in the classroom because it allowed
her to focus on uh the aspects of teaching that she loved and that made the biggest difference uh another theme I think we heard today uh that I agree with is that there is a uh pressing need for more research uh when it comes to how AI is being deployed and the ways in
which it can be deployed most effectively uh what modalities are most effective uh what parts of the traditional lesson plan uh it's best incorporated into uh and as in all things in education it's best when we have measurable outcomes uh and then can let that guide uh our pedagogy going
forward uh Miss Raelbear has noted about everything going on at the the state level in terms of research i think that there perhaps is a federal role here as well at least for the sort of thing we're doing today uh for coordination for sharing best practices i think M raelbear mentioned having a summit of some kind uh which I think is a great
idea uh and then uh you also mentioned Mr riffle better the importance of local engagement as well uh with stakeholders with parents with the community because there's the question of efficacy that research can answer but there's also the question of values that making sure that these technologies are being integrated in classrooms in ways that are consonant
uh with the values of the surrounding community uh this is actually a topic that is is broadly applicable to uh to AI in many facets of society actually in 2018 I was a member of the California legislature I sponsored a resolution about uh the the the benefits of AI but
how we needed to make sure it was consistent with human values as adoption uh spread and so education provides a very uh important example of that we've talked today about Miss Moat mentioned the idea of keeping humans in the loop which I think is a useful uh concept and how there really still is no uh
replacement for human interaction in many domains in society and many parts of our lives and that's probably true most of all when it comes to education uh given the the formative uh nature of education uh for young people we also talked about values related to data and privacy which Miss Miller among others
uh mentioned and then sort of both sides mentioned gave different takes on the question of bias uh and how we need to make sure uh that there are safeguards in place to to so that there is not uh bias incorporated as we use uh AI tools uh but finally I think that uh you know
perhaps um the biggest takeaway from the specific perspective of education policy today is the enormous potential that AI has uh to expand opportunity to close achievement gaps to democratize access uh to the very best instruction we for too long in this country have had these
terrible achievement gaps where opportunity is a product of where you live and where you grow up in my view that's a result of poor policy choices that have been made over the course of many years and decades perhaps not all of my colleagues will agree with me on that but I would hope that we can find some common ground uh on this issue that
we should all be excited about tools that allow for instruction to be tailored in an individualized way uh several people including Miss Miller and Mr thompson mentioned the uh unique potential uh to assist students with special needs uh in this area and the ability to have this individualized uh
instruction uh that is uh you know mindful of a students strengths and weaknesses the prior knowledge that they bring to bear their interests even uh has extraordinary potential and I want to thank Mr doberin as well for his discussion of how all of this can also uh democratize access to the sort of
skills that are successful uh that are needed for success in the workplace so thank you again everyone thank you for some who endured long travels uh to be here and uh I think it was a great hearing and look forward to continuing this conversation going forward the subcommittee stands adjourned