Pause AI in ALL Massachusetts Schools

A campaign from Turning Life On - Massachusetts HQ

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Why This Matters

Kids are still building the skills AI can bypass. Reading, writing, math and judgment grow best when kids do the work themselves.

AI attachment is real. Chatbots are built to keep kids talking and to agree with them. Nearly three in four teens have used an AI companion, and a third have turned to AI instead of a real person about something serious.

AI gets things wrong, confidently, and students can't yet tell when it does.

The burden of proof is backwards. AI tools reach classrooms without independent proof that they're safe or help kids learn, and every new tool is another company holding our children's data.

Parents agree. Three in four U.S. parents support pausing AI in schools.

 
To: Governor Healey, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), and school committees across the Commonwealth,

We're asking Massachusetts to pause the use of AI with students, in every district and every grade, until independent standards and independent research show that AI products are safe, effective, equitable and protective of student privacy.

Why this matters

Kids are still building the skills AI can bypass. School is where students develop reading, writing, math fluency, judgment and critical thinking. Early research suggests that relying on AI can weaken those skills in students and adults alike.1, 2, 3 The best way to prepare kids for an AI future is to build the knowledge and judgment AI can't replace, and those grow best without AI doing the work.

AI attachment is a real problem for students. Chatbots are built to keep kids talking, and to agree with them. Nearly three in four U.S. teens have used an AI companion, more than half use one regularly, and a third have chosen to talk with AI instead of a real person about something serious.4 Adolescence is when kids learn to build real relationships, and engagement-driven chatbot design has already been linked to cases of teen self-harm. School should never be the place that normalizes it.

AI gets things wrong, confidently. In one study, ChatGPT fabricated roughly 29 to 40 percent of the research references it provided.5, 6 Students who are still building foundational knowledge can't yet tell when an answer is wrong, especially when AI creates their learning materials or evaluates their work.

The burden of proof is backwards. A sandwich shop has to pass inspection before it opens. An AI product can reach a classroom with no independent safety or learning review at all. Passing a privacy review is the floor, not proof that a tool helps kids learn, and almost no AI tool in K–12 has independent evidence that it improves learning.

Student data is at risk. The largest K–12 data breach on record, in December 2024, exposed records for tens of millions of students.7 Every new AI tool is another company holding our children's information.

Parents agree. Three in four U.S. parents support pausing AI in schools,8 and a national coalition of experts and organizations has called for a pause on generative AI in PreK–12 schools.9

What we're asking for

From the state:
  1. Update Massachusetts' AI guidance to recommend a pause on AI with students in every district until the steps below are in place.
  2. Set independent standards for any AI products used with students: safety, privacy and security, educational effectiveness, equity, and independence from the companies selling them.
  3. Require independent proof. Tools should be judged by independent research, not studies paid for or produced by the companies that sell them. Share those reviews statewide, so no district has to evaluate tools alone and every student gets the same protection.
From every district:
  1. Pause AI with students, in every grade. Turn off and block AI assistants, chatbots and generative AI features on school devices and networks, including AI built into tools students already use, until the district adopts a clear, transparent AI policy and a tool has passed independent review.
  2. Adopt a clear, transparent AI policy that approves tools only for a specific purpose, requires training for staff and students, is reviewed and reauthorized every year, and includes family input. Under that policy, no AI products through 10th grade, and in 11th and 12th grade, only tools that have passed independent review.
  3. Hold every tool to a safety floor: no advertising, no location tracking, no contact with strangers, no engagement-maximizing or addictive design, and no chatbots that act as a friend or companion.
  4. Keep AI out of feedback and grading. Students' work should be reviewed by people.
  5. Be transparent. Publish a current list of any approved AI tools, for which grades and purposes, and how each handles student data. Review a tool again whenever its features, data practices or AI change.
  6. Give parents a seat at the table through a standing Tech Advisory Committee with parent and teacher representatives, and let families opt out of any approved tool, at any time, without penalty.
  7. Teach about AI, the right way. Offer age-appropriate media and AI literacy that builds on strong reading, writing and thinking skills, so students understand AI before they're asked to use it.

Our commitment

We're not anti-technology. We're pro-child development. We support teaching students about AI, and we want them to grow into capable, thoughtful users of it. That starts with strong foundations, and with tools that independent research has shown to be safe and effective first.
We'd welcome the chance to meet with state and district leaders and work together on a responsible path forward. Thank you for putting our children's learning and well-being first.

Sources

  1. Zhai, C., Wibowo, S. & Li, L.D. "The effects of over-reliance on AI dialogue systems on students' cognitive abilities: a systematic review." Smart Learning Environments 11, 28 (2024).
  2. Gerlich, M. "AI Tools in Society: Impacts on Cognitive Offloading and the Future of Critical Thinking." Societies 15(1):6 (2025).
  3. Kosmyna, N. et al. "Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task." MIT Media Lab (2025).
  4. Common Sense Media. "Talk, Trust, and Trade-Offs: How and Why Teens Use AI Companions" (2025).
  5. Chelli, M. et al. "Hallucination Rates and Reference Accuracy of ChatGPT and Bard for Systematic Reviews." J Med Internet Res 26:e53164 (2024).
  6. Zhao, W. et al. "WildHallucinations: Evaluating Long-form Factuality in LLMs with Real-World Entity Queries" (2024).
  7. PowerSchool student information system data breach, December 2024.
  8. YouGov for the Institute for Family Studies (2026).
  9. Fairplay et al. "Coalition Call for a Pause on Generative AI in PreK–12 Schools" (April 2026).

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