Education leader proposes stronger restrictions on AI and screentime
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By
Chris Teale
Randi Weingarten, head of the American Federation of Teachers, said students are “drowning in tech” that is disrupting their lives, and policymakers need to get a handle on it.
A national education leader called last week for schools to better regulate students’ use of artificial intelligence and their screen time, as they are “drowning in tech.”
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, a union that represents 1.8 million teachers, educators, staff and other professionals, said in a speech that screen use should be banned outright for students in pre-K through second grade, including for assessments. And she said students under 16 should be completely banned from using “social companion” AI chatbots that simulate human relationships.
It’s part of a 10-point action plan released by AFT in a bid to improve student success and learning while wrestling with the implications of technology and AI in the classroom.
“We are in an era of massive disruption,” Weingarten said in a speech at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. “Artificial intelligence is triggering seismic shifts in virtually every aspect of our society. Our students are already feeling the impacts of this disruption. Young people are resilient, but too often the kids are not all right. The major reason is that they are drowning in tech.”
Weingarten said she is not calling for an “AI ban or a [Google] Chromebook bonfire.” But instead, AFT’s action plan is calling for “getting the balance right to harness the benefits of technology while mitigating the harms,” she added.
That action plan, including banning screens for pre-K through second grade as well as student-facing AI in schools, calls for schooling and accountability to be redesigned so active learning is the norm across all grades. AFT also calls on schools to ensure students have a “solid foundation” in literacy, numeracy and civic engagement, and to focus on well-being so that students and families have basic needs met and students are ready to learn.
AFT’s action plan goes on to urge the protection of intellectual property and academic freedom, with support for educators to decide how best to integrate technology into their classrooms. The union also calls for a “new gold standard” of safety and privacy for AI use in schools, and it aims to establish an independent research consortium not funded by tech companies to build and share best practices around tech, screens and AI in schools.
Finally, AFT called for adequate funding of education by states and the federal government, as well as what it called a “tech tax” on tech companies’ earnings and some business operations “to ensure they pay their fair share for the adverse and disruptive consequences of this technology on American families, such as workers being displaced by AI.”
“We are at a crossroads that will define the future of work and society,” Weingarten said in her speech. “Without proper oversight and strong guardrails, there will be real dangers to our safety, privacy, climate and the very fabric of society.”
The problems of AI, social media and screentime have troubled policymakers across the political spectrum, with various states enacting restrictions for their students. Meanwhile, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration said at the end of last year it would study whether schools are too reliant on technology, and if that spending has undermined reaching educational targets.
Weingarten said Democrats are “frankly AWOL” on the issue of screentime, and called on them to do more. And she accused Republicans of “trying to exploit the current crisis to destroy public education and pluralism as we know it.”
“Democrats have been and still are among the strongest advocates of strengthening public education,” she said. “But too few Democratic leaders speak clearly about the fundamental importance of public education as a national priority. And too many want to resurrect the failures of high-stakes testing, are pushing privatization or are frankly AWOL from efforts to make the public schools, which 90 percent of American children attend, the very best they can be.”
And while it may be tempting to blame technology and AI for all of education’s ills, Weingarten called for a positive vision for the future of education that can be rolled out across the United States.
“We need a relentless, intentional focus on what our young people need: greater literacy, numeracy and civic engagement, and active learning that excites and engages them — all while ensuring their social and mental well-being and ability to form healthy relationships,” she said. “Devices down, eyes up, hands-on.”