DeSantis administration moving to regulate AI from pre-K to Ph.D.

This article was originally published by Florida Phoenix.

In concert, state bodies governing public pre-K through Ph.D. students are implementing policies addressing safety and classroom use of artificial intelligence.

Next week, the Florida Board of Governors, which controls Florida’s 12 state universities, will review language directing each campus to “establish policies requiring all course syllabi to include a disclosure of faculty use and permitted student use of artificial intelligence.”

The decision starts with the Task Force on Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity, which the Board of Governors created earlier this year to address the emerging technology’s permeation into higher education.

Policy proposals extend to Florida’s youngest students, too.

The Florida Board of Education, which oversees preK-12 and the Florida College System, has a vote scheduled to direct K-12 public and charter schools and colleges to regulate AI use.

The Board of Education will vote Sept. 16 during its meeting at Polk State College whether to require public school districts and charter school governing boards to amend their internet safety policy to include AI.

The rule is not expected to require legislative ratification and would have to be adopted by school boards by July 1, 2027. 

Districts and charter schools would, at a minimum, make policies to “protect students, parents, and instructional personnel from unlawful, deceptive, unsafe, or unauthorized uses of artificial intelligence systems, services, applications, and tools used in connection with educational programs and operations in Florida public schools,” according to a draft copy of the rule. 

The idea is to “ensure that any approved use of artificial intelligence protects education records and student information, while supporting student achievement, civic literacy, academic excellence, and workforce preparedness.”

More specifically, schools would notify parents when teachers approve an AI instructional tool for use, including the name of the platform and classes in which it would be used and the nature of student interaction.

Parental Protection

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration did not return a request for comment.

The Florida Education Association supports guidelines for protecting children.

“Every parent and guardian wants their child to succeed in their public schools. In today’s world, technology is a key part of what and how our students learn, and, like with all new technology, there must be rules and guidelines that center on protecting our children,” FEA President Andrew Spar wrote in an emailed statement to the Phoenix.

The policy must require a process for parents to object to AI use and provide alternatives to the tool.

Schools would be required to conduct additional reviews for AI tools used in PreK-5 to ensure it is age appropriate. 

The measure includes language aiming to protect the teaching profession from being replaced by computers. It would “ensure that the use of AI instructional tools is limited to supplementing, and not replacing, the professional judgment of teachers and the primary right of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children.”

Further, the policy must ensure AI is “accurate, transparent, viewpoint neutral, accessible to students and educators with disabilities.”

Schools must make publicly available approved AI instructional tools and policies. Also, the tools must maintain student interaction for at least 30 days in the interest of accessibility to parents and district administrators.

However, the data collected on students must not be used for profit or to profile students to train commercial AI models. 

The state is proposing, the regulation draft says, that schools not deploy AI to:

• Meet a student’s social or emotional needs, including Social Emotional Learning.
• Simulate friendship, companionship, or an emotional relationship with a student.
• Employ relationship-building or anthropomorphic design features for the purpose of encouraging a student to continue interacting with the system or tool.

The rule would impose training for teachers and administrators on the safety, risks, and compliance regarding AI. 

The policy must address plagiarism, permissible classroom use, verifying student work, and demonstrating mastery without use of AI.

“At the Florida Education Association, we believe that any policy the state of Florida enacts must ensure parents and guardians are advised of all potential uses of AI in a public school, that student data is protected, that the use of AI and new technologies is safe, that use of technology in the classroom is age and need appropriate, and that educators are protected and that additional work is not placed on them without additional support,” Spar said.

College System

The 28 state colleges have AI rules on the Board of Education docket, too. 

Those rules would place responsibility to create AI policies with college system boards of trustees

The Board of Education expects the 28 boards of trustees to create policies “that provide for the use and limitations of use of artificial intelligence tools in order to ensure quality of education for students, efficiency of operations, and a safe learning environment for the whole college community.”

As with the pre-K-12 policy, the college policy would distinguish between instructional AI tools and other technologies. 

AI instructional tools could not “meet a student’s social needs; simulate friendship, companionship, or an emotional relationship with a student; or employ relationship-building or anthropomorphic design features for the purpose of encouraging a student to continue interacting with the system.”

The policy calls on colleges to protect student privacy with AI, allow notification of parents of minors taking college classes whether their courses involve AI, and factor for academic integrity and dishonesty.

The policy calls, too, for building a framework to helps students understand what AI is and how it incorporates into their education and building AI skills.