00:00How do we strike the right balance between screen time, extracurriculars, homework, and time to just be a kid?
00:08But in recent years, a new question has risen in the lives of students, parents, and educators alike.
00:13How to navigate the advent of artificial intelligence in our society, and by extension, in our schools.
00:20In just a few years, AI has gone from the pages of a sci-fi novel into something present in
00:26nearly every aspect of our lives.
00:28It is embedded in our maps and emails, in toasters and washing machines.
00:33It is present when we visit the doctor, when we cash a check, and when we settle down on the
00:37couch to watch a movie.
00:39But just because technology is everywhere, doesn't mean that it belongs everywhere.
00:45After all, each day when our children come to school, we teach them to ask questions, to challenge assumptions, to
00:53interrogate the premise, to ask why.
00:57When it comes to AI in our schools, we hold an obligation to do the same.
01:01We must ask, what helps our children learn?
01:05How can we protect their developing minds?
01:07And how do we prepare them for a world in which new technologies will be increasingly built into it?
01:13Today, I am proud to announce New York City's first ever comprehensive AI policy for our public schools.
01:19We're helping pave the way with our efforts to ban cell phones and social media platforms in our schools.
01:24This moratorium is a commitment to getting the future right.
01:28A six-year-old child is too young to slice an onion, to fry an egg, or to use a
01:32stove safely.
01:33But once that child is 16, that knowledge becomes something they are mature enough to learn.
01:39That same principle applies to AI.
01:42Whether we like it or not, our teenagers are growing up in an AI-saturated world.
01:46We cannot pretend that that world does not exist.
01:49It would be irresponsible not to prepare our children for the fast-evolving technological future that lies ahead.
01:55So, in high school, we will teach our students about AI, its opportunities and its pitfalls, its building blocks and
02:03its biases.
02:04And we will pilot five rigorously vetted educational AI programs that teachers have vouched for,
02:10like the programs that I just had the pleasure of trying alongside students here at Brooklyn STEAM.
02:14But I want to be very clear.
02:16In no way, shape, or form will AI replace student-teacher interaction.
02:21It is the foundation of our students' educational experience.
02:24That will not change.
