As an adult with a generally optimistic view on technology, I had a rude awakening recently: My third grader mentioned that he and his buddies had been using Google's Gemini on their school-provided Chromebooks to make funny pictures of poop and dinosaurs.
Technically, he admitted they're not supposed to be using Gemini like this, but they've figured out they have access to the tool — and if they finish their assigned schoolwork a few minutes early, they have time to mess around on their Chromebooks.
I didn't love the idea of them getting access to a generative AI image-making tool unsupervised — something I wouldn't allow at home. (Even if it's technically against school rules, it wasn't blocked or restricted.)
I'm not the only parent worried about AI making its way into the elementary school classroom. In the last few weeks, a handful of articles about AI and Chromebooks in schools have sparked a lot of discussion among parents — and, from what I've observed, the tone of these conversations ranges from frustrated to horrified.
A recent New York Magazine story, "Help! My kindergarten is all in on AI," detailed how AI programs are being used in some New York public schools. Proponents say they give a new ability to customize lessons to each kid's needs. Some New York parents are organizing and rallying against them. At an open meeting for parents to weigh in on AI policy with the city's Department of Education, one parent accused the chancellor of "experimenting on our children."
