Petition for Responsible AI Use in Our Schools

Dear Jeremy Ray,

We, the undersigned parents and community members, are writing to express our urgent concern regarding the premature and unrestricted use of generative artificial intelligence tools in our children's education.

Our children are at a critical stage of cognitive development, building foundational skills in reading, writing, and critical thinking that will serve them throughout their lives. We believe the current implementation of AI tools in classrooms poses significant risks to this development process.

The research is alarming. Multiple recent studies demonstrate that generative AI use may impair cognitive development and critical thinking skills in both students and adults. High school students are already spending nine hours per day on screens outside of school, and we cannot afford to compound these effects with untested AI tools during crucial learning hours.

Accuracy is a serious problem. Large Language Models have known error and hallucination rates upwards of 30% or more in certain contexts. Even educational AI platforms like MagicSchoolAI acknowledge that their systems will make mistakes. Our children, who are still building foundational knowledge, do not yet have the skills to evaluate the validity of AI-generated content. These inaccuracies can easily go unnoticed and may mislead students at the most critical time in their educational development.

Safety remains unproven. There are no guarantees that generative AI tools are safe for student use. These products may expose students to inappropriate or harmful content and interactions. Even the developers of these tools acknowledge these risks, yet our children are being used as test subjects.

EdTech apps pose additional privacy risks through their collection of student data. By gamifying the learning experience, they can undermine children's ability to focus on work that doesn't trigger short-term rewards, thereby diminishing the capacity for deep thinking that is essential for academic success and personal growth.

We call upon our school district to take immediate action to protect our children's cognitive development and educational experience by implementing the following measures:

We fully support efforts to educate students about artificial intelligence and believe it is important for our children to eventually develop the skills necessary to engage with these technologies responsibly. However, that process should begin with building a strong foundation of knowledge and fundamental skills before generative AI tools are introduced.

We are not anti-technology, but we are pro-child development. We believe our children deserve an education that prioritizes their cognitive growth, critical thinking abilities, and foundational learning over the implementation of unproven technological tools.

We respectfully request that the district implement these measures immediately to protect our children's educational experience and cognitive development. We would welcome the opportunity to meet with district leadership to discuss these concerns and work collaboratively toward solutions that truly serve our children's best interests.

On behalf of our children, we implore you to take this issue seriously and act swiftly to ensure that technology serves education, not the other way around.