Mark Messmer Asks Witness About State Guidelines For Development Of K-12 AI Education

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During a House Education Committee hearing on Tuesday, Rep. Mark Messmer (R-IN) questioned Dr. Sid Dobrin, Chair for University of Florida’s Department of English, about states’ involvement in developing artificial intelligence curriculum.   Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript   Stay Connected Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com

Transcript

00:00The representative from Indiana, Mr. Messmer, Messmer is recognized for five minutes.

00:07Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

00:08Dr. Ralph LaBaer, in your written testimony, you said that states are ideally positioned

00:14to support districts in making locally grounded decisions that align with their unique goals.

00:20You touched on this during your testimony, but what role do you think states can play

00:24uniquely in an AI adoption where individual districts might struggle?

00:30Thank you for that question.

00:32States are, first and foremost, the ones who set the vision for where things are going

00:37within their state, and they do so through deep community engagement and understanding

00:42where their constituents are, and that is only more true in this moment around AI.

00:47I think states also play a critical data collection role.

00:50We saw this with Internet access and the differences in the kind of quality of access

00:55and the unevenness between what students had access to even within a school setting versus

01:01what they might have at home or in after school, and we need to look at that in the same way

01:05with AI.

01:07We know that students are going to have very different experiences, and we're already seeing

01:11that in early survey work where we're seeing higher socioeconomic status students who have

01:17more access to paid versions of AI.

01:21Those are important things that states should be looking into and should be collecting data

01:25about.

01:26The second area that we suggest in ILO Group's framework for state education agencies is

01:33the concept of an AI assurance lab.

01:35We think states are uniquely positioned to set up a lab that creates public transparency

01:41around what tools are being vetted by scientists and researchers from within the state, thinking

01:47about bringing task forces with other representatives on it, including having parents and caregivers

01:53a part of those labs, and not just doing the approvals on the front end, but also rigorously

01:58and often doing more research on the outputs of tools that are approved can help to give

02:05people more confidence and just understanding about all of this, and we think is an important

02:09role that states can play.

02:12Dr. Dobrin, you mentioned that about 25 states have or are developing official guidelines

02:19and policies for K-12 AI education.

02:23On the whole, do you think these states are rising to the challenge and giving the districts

02:26the information they need, or do these guidelines lack specificity and clarity?

02:33Thank you for that question.

02:35In regarding what different states' legislation, like I had mentioned in the written, there

02:39are about 45 states now that are considering AI.

02:43Most of those are not directed specifically at education.

02:46However, the trickle-down will inevitably be that that will affect education.

02:51The thing that I think that comes out clear, and I can point to yesterday's Florida Senate

02:56discussion in the Commerce Committee about AI, is that the majority of these states are

03:02focusing on further research, which is, as my panelists have – other witnesses have

03:08That's the important part at this point.

03:09We need more data before we make these decisions.

03:12So those states that are beginning to really look at what AI deployment looks like, both

03:16in workplace and in education, they're the ones who are going to – excuse me – they're

03:20the ones who are going to lead that conversation.

03:23Have there been pretty robust collaborative efforts between states that you've seen?

03:27I honestly don't know how states are talking to other states.

03:32You'll be – you'll back the rest of my time.

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