AI in Education Guide: What Parents & Caregivers Should Know

National Parents Union

National Parents Union Survey

Amanda Bickerstaff

Amanda is the Founder and CEO of AI for Education. A former high school science teacher and EdTech executive with over 20 years of experience in the education sector, she has a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities that AI can offer. She is a frequent consultant, speaker, and writer on the topic of AI in education, leading workshops and professional learning across both K12 and Higher Ed. Amanda is committed to helping schools and teachers maximize their potential through the ethical and equitable adoption of AI.

Jason B. Allen

Jason B. Allen is the National Partnership Director for the National Parents Union. He has worked in Education for nineteen (19) years as a teacher, administrator and leader serving students, families and communities.

As a long time storyteller, Jason shares his experiences through his company, educational entities, llc , which includes The Educators Voice Blog (TEVB), Students for Equity, i Win Morning Show and Lillie’s Foundation.

He is a longtime advocate for male engagement and doing the work of elevating Black male teachers and educators voices to order to help increase the number of male educators or color in classrooms and boardrooms. His podcast, Speak Black Man, focuses on ways to recruit, retain and empower Black male educators to advocate for social justice and equity while adding our perspectives to various issues impacting us.

His life work is centered on his family’s foundation, Lillie’s Foundation, supporting grandparents and seniors raising school aged children.

00:01
Amanda Bickerstaff
Hi everyone. Welcome to the webinar. We're always happy to have you. It takes just a little bit of time for everyone to get in. But very excited to have you in our first ever parent focused webinar, which is pretty amazing. It's actually also our Parent Guide is the most robust document we've ever created because we do believe how important this moment in time is. I'm Amanda Bickerstaff. I'm the CEO and co founder of AI for Education. And and today what we're really going to be focusing on is what parents and caregivers should know about AI and education. And so I'm going to be joined. I am joined by these two lovely fellows. I've got Jason B. Allen, who is a national director of partnerships at the National Parent Union. Parents Union, excuse me.

00:42
Amanda Bickerstaff
And then also Kenneth Reddick, who's a founder and CEO of Brothers Brunch foundation and a father of like a lot of kids. And so from 8 to 25. Right. We span many generations and many kiddos. So we're excited to have you both here with us today. As always, we want you to say hello. Say hello in the chat. We will have, I'm sure, people from all over the country in the world and so always good to say hello if you have a great resource to say that. I know that there are other frameworks and supports around education and AI, especially with parent approaches, but say hello, share. You already have Olga from Australia, guys. So I'm in Flint, you know, in Michigan. We've got everything. But we've got Herman and Tanya, who's been to a lot of these before.

01:26
Amanda Bickerstaff
But make sure to say hello to share because our community practice is one of the most important parts of what we do. And I know a lot of you are probably both educators and parents, so to be able to take those two lens and if you're not and you're just a parent, we're really excited to have you here. I'm going to do just a first for those that are like just getting started. If you've followed us work before, you know that this is a very popular resource that we have. But I just want to establish why we're here today. And so while it says AI in education, even our company name is AI for Education. We're really here today to talk about generative AI. And so AI has been a part of our lives for 20, 30, 40. It really even goes back.

02:05
Amanda Bickerstaff
The first chatbot was in the 60s. This is how long we've had artificial intelligence around. You and if you have used Google Maps or you have bought something online or use Google Search or even Autocorrect in your phone, you've been interacting with artificial intelligence. And same thing with your student, with your young people. They have been interacting with AI as well. And so what we're going to be focusing on today though, is really a subset of AI called generative AI. And the difference between generative AI and the AI that we have used in the past and continue to use is that generative AI now can take the way we speak or text or type and way we ask questions and actually create something brand new.

02:45
Amanda Bickerstaff
So in the case of generative AI, it could be, let's say, a student essay, or it could be a new game, it could be audio, video coding. It really is opening us up to creating with technology in a way that's never been possible before. I think that while we're here, what's really important that we're really nailing down into this form of AI, because that's really what the structure of the conversation is going to be about. But also it is why we're having so much conversation right now. Because generative AI like ChatGPT has only been around for three years in a public facing way. In the same way that is like no time in education. It's probably a lot of time. And having four kids like Kenneth, like three years probably is like, you know, very long time. But for education, three years doesn't go.

03:32
Amanda Bickerstaff
That is going to be a very short period of time. So what I'm going to do is actually, we'd love to start with evidence. I'm going to call Jason up and you can introduce yourself, Jason. But can you talk us through the research that you all did so we can start to have a foundation of what we know is happening in terms of parents and their understanding of AI?

03:49
Jason B. Allen
Awesome, Amanda. So thank you so much for this amazing conversation again, everyone. I'm Jason B. Allen with the National Parents Union. We are the united, independent voice of modern American families. And so, as you see in front of you, we have the longest standing parent poll that we run nationally, really gathering information from parents, caretakers, family members, guardians, all of us who have a stake in children's matriculation through our education system. First thing, starting with data showing a very important question. Which of the following best describes how much you know about artificial intelligence?

04:34
Jason B. Allen
And so, as you see before you have a lot of people who have some general information and people who know just a little, which is good because we Want people to be in the know of what's happening so we can get you to be a part of NPU and help change some of the policies impacting AI. So this is knowledge base. We'll go to the next slide. So here we have our next question, and it says, what kind of impact do you believe AI will have on your family's quality of life in the next 10 years? Now, the teacher in me wants to give you guys this as an assignment right now to ask yourself this question.

05:16
Jason B. Allen
Kenneth is an active member of npu, so I know he's done this with his family and has been involved in our technology series that we have going on right now. But a lot of families are asking this question, especially as school is letting out and we're preparing for a new school year. But again, reinforcing this data around what kind of impact do you believe AI will have on your family's quality of life in the next 10 years? And as you can see, the highest percentage is people are, you know, kind of borderline equally between positive and negative impacts. We'll go to the next data point. All right, now, parents are divided on whether AI developers are doing enough to prevent bias or not, with many being unsure.

06:08
Jason B. Allen
And I also will say that, yes, NPU amplifies the voices of parents and families, but I also remind people that, you know, teachers, educators, social workers, those in education are parents. So a lot of parents are in the education field and are concerned about the contracts the school districts, school board members are approving. And where is our student data actually going? Very huge concern for parents. We'll go to our next data point. Okay. Most say their child school has not shared AI use policies or ask parents for input on the use of AI tools. This is a very interesting conversation because I will say that most parents, 100% of parents are getting information about something I'll like to show and tell.

07:07
Jason B. Allen
So this little device right here called a cell phone, parents are up in arms with teachers and other educators who are looking at the mental health and wellness of our children. And how do we actually maybe lim cell phone usage and even screen time usage in our schools. But these are AI policies that connect to curriculum. And I'm giving that example about cell phones because when we brought this to parents, they didn't connect the dots and they said that, wow, our teachers and our school leaders had not connected the dots for us. I think we have a couple of more slides, so let's go to the next one. Parents want to be involved in decisions around the use of AI. They absolutely want to be involved, but they need more information.

07:54
Jason B. Allen
And one of the things that we found is that teachers and educators are saying we too need more information around AI and how it is advancing in the way we're using it in our schools. Next slide.

08:10
Amanda Bickerstaff
So I, I want to connect before I let Jason off the hook a little bit before we go into the guide, I want to call out a couple of things that I thought was really interesting. And so let's go back to this first slide, Jason. The idea that like, while there has been a movement in terms of those that have more of a detailed understanding, it's relatively slow going. Right? I mean, there's very little change in almost 12 months, actually more than 12 months. So I think this is really interesting for us is that there clearly is a need for more AI literacy work between. Yes, it is in general, but also between the school and Home Depot. Agree with that.

08:48
Jason B. Allen
No, I totally agree. And I will say that Tashir Cosby, who is our senior director of organizing the partnerships, we always say that we are AI enthusiasts. And so right now we're reading a book, I have it right here on the side of me, like the show and tell Digitally Invisible. And what we're seeing with our data is that when you get to the orange and red area of the data, I know a little bit about it. I don't know anything at all. We're also taking into consideration generational families or multi generational families, our caretakers, our grandfamilies who are raising school age children, but also families who are in urban and rural areas. People think that, oh, I can just go and watch reality TV and I can send this text message with no time flat.

09:38
Jason B. Allen
But that's not the case when we think about infrastructure and bandwidth. So I'm so glad that you came back to this slide because those areas also incorporate the families who are displaced and do not have access to technology.

09:54
Amanda Bickerstaff
And I know, I think that is such an important underlying part of like where also the schools can lean in. Like, it's an opportunity. If you're an educator or school leader watching this, like, there's an opportunity here to lean in terms of access, of course, but also in terms of like some of the tools actually do work with low bandwidth or over time we will start to see tools that can be done just locally on a device even. You can, you can know that you can call ChatGPT, you do not have to have anything, or you can WhatsApp it so you don't even have to have, like, a computer or a connection to the Internet. You can just call ChatGPT.

10:29
Amanda Bickerstaff
And then there are some ways, if we really think about that connection to home and access and bringing people up to really start to move this. Because I think if parents don't know, then what we see is that students are going to be going into the classroom. That's changing. Right. And they're not going to have those, like, those skill sets or even those. The language to be able to answer some of. Some of the needs or even advocate for their own use, which I think is really important. I want to also. You know what? I'm actually going to go back one. And. And I think this is really interesting that, you know, to talk about that quality of life piece, that idea that, like, it's gonna be either good or bad, like, it might be both.

11:08
Amanda Bickerstaff
Like, it's fascinating to me that was really the one there. But I will also say that I do think that the level of optimism, considering that there's not that many people that know, but at least there's an optimistic approach to this, is really interesting. I mean, I don't know, Jason, if you have any, like, thoughts about why.

11:25
Jason B. Allen
You think that is, I will say stay tuned. We are talking. Technology Caucus is doing a lot of research and collecting things from parents. I think that we're going to definitely see some shifts in this. And I can say and speak directly to working families that are going to see changes in schools, closing hospitals, closing government agencies and programs that are closing across the nation. And a lot of people are being told that it's because of the advancements in AI that your job is being phased out and you're no longer needed. And so I think that there is going to be a shift. This question is going to be very interesting in about six to eight months in regards to how people are really feeling about the impacts of advanced technology when the workforce is starting to be replaced.

12:18
Amanda Bickerstaff
Absolutely. And I think that, you know, that realism there. And I think that what we see from the research that goes broader is that when people have less AI literacy, they can be more optimistic and. Or believe these tools are kind of, you know, magic or, like, they could fix everything. Right. But then when they. When you have AI literacy, you start to understand the greater global impact. And so I'll be very interested. Maybe we can do this again next year when you have the research and we do our next.

12:42
Jason B. Allen
I'm with it.

12:43
Amanda Bickerstaff
Let's do it.

12:44
Jason B. Allen
Yes.

12:45
Amanda Bickerstaff
Before we go on, I do love that we have the bias Here. But I think that, you know, the idea that you brought up here about how it's almost like one or the other, either parrots are conflating AI with cell phone use or they think it's completely different. And so I think that this, I would just kind of say that we are. We talked to a recent school in New York City that has like a lot of parents that care a lot and about 25% of their parent population are anti tech in schools to a point of like no tech. And then there's about 50% that are like some tech. And then 25% they're like all tech.

13:24
Amanda Bickerstaff
And so I think that this is really interesting, but we do see in board meetings and teachers and parents that there's a difficulty of kind of understanding where AI fits in the more global, just technology use and especially with young people. I think it's really interesting that you pointed that out. Is there anything else you learned in the research that supports why you think that is or what we need to do?

13:47
Jason B. Allen
I would say a lot of this also comes from what parents are hearing from and what they are receiving from teachers. We do have several partners that are organizations for teachers and support the advocacy of teacher development. And they have data showing that teachers have been advocating for and asking for AI trainings that specifically, and I want to make sure that I highlight this, it helps to continue education at home. When we're thinking about digitally invisible communities. There's data around the homework gap. And the homework gap really speaks to children and families that are disconnected from the usage of technology, even cell phones after they leave from school or out of school time programs.

14:39
Jason B. Allen
And so this is important because the usage of AI again still speaks to communities that are disconnected or they don't have quality broadband services where they can be in the know of what's happening, especially around AI tools that if it's being used at school, there is, you know, something that's called continued learning. And how are children going to use these applications and tools once they leave the school? So yes, I wanted to add that.

15:08
Amanda Bickerstaff
To the data we know. And actually the research shows that probably the strongest indicator of AI use and, or knowledge of anything everywhere from high school to, you know, adults into their 60s, is the amount of income at home that Those with under 30, $30,000 of income statistically significantly know less about AI and use it less than any other demographic. And so, and I think that is where. But on the other side, there's some encouraging data that shows that community like communities like Ethnic communities and like communities that are traditionally potentially at the edge of the digital divide are also leaning into these tools as well in meaningful ways. So we are seeing a lot of like, really interesting uptake across different communities.

15:53
Amanda Bickerstaff
But I do think that's really valuable to point out that, you know, right now the access is still, it's going to be such a huge part of this. And there's also, just before we move on as well as it being like those that have incomes over 30 or K or below, is that schools that are well funded have more AI literacy training and support than those that do not, low income school systems. And so it's not just happening at the individual family level or family unit level. It's also happening at the school level as well. So what we're going to do is so to help out, we built this. I think we had decided that were going to do a parent and caregiver document because we hadn't seen a lot out there.

16:37
Amanda Bickerstaff
And also we have been doing more and more parent conversations with some of our district partners and it's been great. I mean, I have to tell you, being able to answer questions from like the very general to the very technical has been really interesting for us. And so we put together this parent guide and I think we intended Jason and Kenneth this to be like five pages. In fact, the first one was one page and then we made this crazy. It became literally is now 14 pages. But it is designed to really be just this starting place. And I think it's a starting place. Whether you have children at home that you're thinking about AI or you're just getting started, it's for educators and leaders to be able to communicate better at home.

17:25
Amanda Bickerstaff
And so what we have is I'm going to take you through a bit of a tour and we're going to look at it through the slides. But it is designed and Dan's going to drop this into the chat, but it's been designed to really be a starting place, like I said. And the first thing is that in some, whether you have no ever used generative AI or you have a parent community that hasn't. We start with the foundations. What is generative AI? The same way we started at the top of this webinar we talk about the importance of AI literacy and not AI education. I want to make this clear. We're not talking about having millions of young people that build AI.

18:00
Amanda Bickerstaff
What we're talking about is we're creating a foundational literacy where people understand how to Use these tools and so safe ethical and effective manners. And so that's our C framework. But we really think that AI literacy is for everyone, including the parents, the caregivers, the grandparents, the guardians that are supporting young people. And so we actually believe very strongly that this is new foundational literacy for everyone. Third is we talk about how to support. So exactly to Jason's point, how do we support the continued learning at home, or maybe not even the continuing learning at home, the sense of AI being used in the classroom at home. But what happens when you don't have access to a tutor or you've tapped out at fifth grade math? You've tapped out and you need extra help supporting your young person.

18:50
Amanda Bickerstaff
How can you actually start using these tools to help your young people in the home? We talk about the benefits and challenges of AI in education. We try to be as balanced as possible. If you know us well, you know that we believe very strongly that balance is the most important thing. We talk about how to partner with schools. In fact, when we do our keynote, we are. We talk about being able to communicate, partner and educate. So we talk about communicating with your. Well, you educate yourself, you communicate with your young people and you partner with schools to support AI literacy. And then finally, how to access resources for continued learning. Because there's a lot of great resources that are more tactical. And so those can be for your young people and also for yourself as a parent or caregiver.

19:35
Amanda Bickerstaff
We wanted to stay here and I'm actually going to ask Kenneth to come off mute because I'm going to throw. I know you said don't throw it to you, but I'm throwing it to you. Kenneth, we're going wild here is one of the things that we wanted to do in the document, and you'll see this in the document, is actually go through some of the tools that you may not know exist that your young people could be using. So, Kenneth, out of this list, what do you think your young people are using today? So we have again, introduce yourself, talk about your family, of course, and the work you do. But then maybe you can tell me what you think your kids are using.

20:05
Kenneth Reddick
Okay. Well, my name is Kenneth Reddick. I am a NPU partner, the Brothers Brunch foundation, which is not a time to eat but be fed. Mental health and self care awareness. So as you mentioned before, I do have four children ranging from 25 to 8 years old. And one of the things that I realize is that with each generation, as a parent, we have to truly meet them where they are. And honestly, in a situation like this, understand the tools that are best going to help them navigate. And so if I think about this, of course, I mean, the kids are using Snapchat, like, all the time, you know? You know, I see and hear some of them now using a little bit more of Chat GPT, as well as myself and other parents. But to be honest with you, and a little bit.

21:03
Kenneth Reddick
I won't say the kids are using the character AI, but I know a little bit about that. But honestly, there's a lot that's still foreign on here to me, as much as I'm aware of some of the AI tools. And I think that's the thing, is the awareness that you're bringing for us as parents, but also us as parents having those active discussions about the things that we're utilizing, but also how we're utilizing them, not only just for ourselves, but making it safe and productive for our children.

21:36
Amanda Bickerstaff
Absolutely. Okay, so. So, Kenneth, there are 150 million active users of Snapchat. Is that not wild? There are only, like. So the. The number one is ChatGPT. It's almost 800 million now, but, like, Gemini is just over, I think 200. Is this over, like, 30 million. And Snapchat AI is 150 million. So I just want to say that. And not only that, but it's been a ChatGPT like, application layer for two and a half years. Essentially. It's been since March 2023. I'm going to ask you, Kenneth and Jason, do you. Do you know what Quill Bot is? Have you heard of Quill Bot?

22:14
Jason B. Allen
I have not heard of Quill, but I was hoping that someone maybe in the comment section would say, hey, I know what. That. I'm a little bit familiar.

22:21
Amanda Bickerstaff
Can you guess. Can you guess what it is?

22:25
Jason B. Allen
I'm gonna say Quill by just looking at the colors. It's green. Of course. It's a robot. I'm gonna say that maybe it's connected to a science curriculum or some type of curriculum that the teachers use. So Jaslyn helps with writing and paraphrasing.

22:43
Amanda Bickerstaff
Okay, okay. But Jaslyn's being very nice and. Hi, Jazlyn. It's. But I. She's a New York City. P.S. A good friend. It's actually a cheating tool. Oh, Jasmine's being very nice. It does help with writing and paraphrasing, but it also helps you get around AI detection. And so it is a. It is a. Essentially, like, it's been like, there's spinbot and Coldbot. But these are paraphrasing tools. Yeah, Shelly's got it too. I will say Grammarly. Also Grammarly used to just correct grammar, but now I can just write your essay. And not only that, but if you search, help me write my essay. It's usually what kids will search for, like a cheating, like a moment. I just don't have time.

23:25
Jason B. Allen
That's right.

23:27
Amanda Bickerstaff
Has bid on those social media words, those keywords. And so they're actually bidding as also not just a grammar support, but also a cheating tool. And so this is where it gets really interesting, where a couple of these like Snapchat and Character AI are social companionship, but bots, they are about advice. They're, you know, who's my best friend? Or what should I do? Or what should I. How should I wear my hair? As well as their homework. But then we actually have active tools that are being marketed directly to kids around academic integrity, around AI girlfriends and boyfriends. And I'm going to hold that one till later because I think that artificial companionship or artificial intimacy is incredibly important. But we'll come back to it. But I do love that. I love how Jasmine's just very nice. We could not be that nice.

24:14
Amanda Bickerstaff
We actually ran a school where in the third, like they had third graders that had access Quill bot on their iPads, which is wild. And were. People are like, what is this? And I'm like, I have bad news.

24:28
Kenneth Reddick
Yep. If I could just say something right there. I think that's also the importance of parents understanding what AI is because, you know, even as we talked about cell phones, and not that all parents are necessarily just invasive, but many parents may check our kids cell phones, you know, just because we want to make sure that, you know, we understand what's going on. So I think that with this AI, as you just mentioned with this Quillbot, if I were to happen to pick up my son's cell phone or his iPad and see it, I would just think, oh, okay, he got another little game on there.

25:08
Kenneth Reddick
But at least having the understanding of a parent, as in what some of these AI tools are when we recognize them and it has to do with our children, at least it can give us some type of a guide as to understanding what our kids may be into when it comes to integrity.

25:27
Amanda Bickerstaff
Absolutely. And that's why I think we structured it this way because, like, you just may not know as a parent that Snapchat AI, I would say that teachers don't know it exists. I was in a We are doing a Train the Trainer right now, Kenneth, where we have like 60 teachers, many of them parents, and I asked them if they knew what character AI was, which is the third most popular web based chatbot, and only two people in the whole room raise their hands. So there is this like, need for both sides because I think that in some cases educators don't know what Quill Bot is.

25:58
Amanda Bickerstaff
And so I think that some of these pieces get really interesting where it could just be AI literacy, but connecting the educator AI literacy, the student AI literacy, and parent and community AI literacy doing the same thing. It's important for everyone to know what this is because the kid also might access it thinking it's totally okay. And then they get popped on the AI detector and they will be considered to be academically dishonest. Okay, so here is what we talked about. So if you want to start thinking about how to do this at home, though, we have some really good ways to do this. And so in the document, if you want to try these out, we've got starting the conversation, we actually have sentence starters. We are, you could tell, like Jason probably knows, like, we are educators.

26:40
Amanda Bickerstaff
In fact, quite a few people on our team, like Mandy and Wendy are like, great at this. But like, how do you even start the conversation where a kid just doesn't say, okay, it's fine, don't. I don't want to have this conversation. We also have the idea of actually starting to be a co learner, which I just talked about. You can learn at the same time as your kids are. Right. This has never been a time in the world really, where we're all learning about the same thing at exactly the same time. Right. And I think that this is where it gets really fascinating where you can start to, like, we're going to explore this tool together. We're going to talk about how appropriate it is or not appropriate.

27:19
Amanda Bickerstaff
And I think that could be, or even like the value it could give you or the concerns we should have. The next is the idea of differentiating between personal and school AI use. Okay, this is a big one because, you know, I think some students are like told not to use this in certain ways. But how are students using it? Let's say we're today. If you want to be a musician but you don't have an orchestra, you can use AI today to help you essentially practice orchestration and hearing different, you know, different types of horns and drums on the same orchestration. Like, there's some amazing things that can just come down to creative arts, to young people really wanting to build something meaningful. But there's like, a way you have to talk about it.

28:02
Amanda Bickerstaff
Because if they take that same approach and necessarily go into a classroom and just think, I can just use this without asking for permission, then it can start to get really difficult. Right? Because we're creating this, like, idea that it's a 0 or 1. It's either yes or no, but reality. It's like we have to have conversations, we have to be intentional, we have to ask for permission. And the last thing is that setting clear boundaries and fostering ethical understanding. You know, it is really important that young people understand that some of the use of AI in terms of how it's being like, I mean, Jason probably talk about this, but these tools are being marketed to young people and can be driving them to engage in meaning in ways that can be harmful, but also to share data.

28:46
Amanda Bickerstaff
Share data that can be used to sell them things. If I go back to perplexity is very popular with it's a generative AI search tool. And you think, oh, it's great, but they want to be the next Google, which means in their terms of service, your data is up for them to sell and it's just freely available. It's 13 and up, but you don't. But instead of Google, where you're putting, like, keywords, you actually could be saying, you know, I'm Kenneth Reddick's, you know, daughter or son, and like, I care about this. And all of a sudden you can start to see because how the technology works that actually helps. Having an understanding of why we need to be protected at home, why we need to have these ethical understandings that go way beyond just academic integrity, I think are really important.

29:28
Amanda Bickerstaff
So I'm going to stop here and like Jason or Kenneth, if you have a thought or something you want to share, Jason's ready.

29:35
Jason B. Allen
Who's just going to say, I think these strategies are phenomenal. The National Parents Union, we had a conversation at the start of the year around digital wellness and disengaged teenagers. Actually, there's a book for parents and educators who may be interested, the Disengaged Teen. And we started off the year focusing in on that because the digital wellness is so critically important. And so when you were mentioning strategies for building AI literacy at home, the teacher in me also wants to reinforce the urgency of parents and teachers being partners in doing this together. So it's not reinventing the wheel and people don't feel overwhelmed. And, you know, how am I supposed to learn this.

30:23
Jason B. Allen
I also want to say that a strategy to help continue to build these things is to connect with out of school time programs such as STEM clubs or enrichment programs that are STEM or STEAM focused. Because having done this, I had young people to create their own list of what are your favorite apps? Right. What are the favorite apps that you use? Some of the things we had never heard of and didn't even know existed. But that's a good way to get information from everyone. And also a warning as you're building AI literacy at home. Something that can also be overlooked is commercials and ads in the gaming community and also YouTube. And this is even with parental controls and even with children, especially young children in early education.

31:22
Jason B. Allen
It's really important that parents are monitoring and aware of how AI literacy is stretching and getting connected to younger kids through commercials and ads.

31:33
Amanda Bickerstaff
Yeah, and I mean, like if you look at character AI, for example, again, you know, they really market it to the youngest generations. If you actually open it up, it's anime, it is colorful, it is like clearly designed not for a 25 year old, but for a 13 year old or even a 10 year old really. And so, I mean, you can make a spongebob, a Pokemon. You can, you know, you can do all of those pieces. So I think that, you know, that is a really good point. Point. But Kenneth, first of all, I love that people are sharing in the chat, the time, the first time you use things and how you're using it at home as other strategies. I think that is awesome.

32:09
Amanda Bickerstaff
But Kenneth, you want to talk a little bit too about how you're thinking about AI literacy at home?

32:12
Kenneth Reddick
Yeah. And, and honestly, when I just saw Jordan's comment just pop up, I'm like, that is amazing. And I think to Jason's point, is one of the things that when there are certain initiatives as a parent, I always ask, okay, is this teacher or school driven or is it parent driven? And to Jason's point, I think that this is truly from both angles because I believe that this is a learning curve where a lot of people may be at different levels, whether you're in education or you are the parent. But I know that based on my experience, either doing through and I share it with Shelley, even, you know, she was talking about in the comments about, you know, starting to use it as a part of, you know, assignments and those sorts of things.

32:59
Kenneth Reddick
When I used it as a part of a career day presentation and shared it not only with the teachers but also with other parents of what had been Done. It's that wowing experience that if I didn't share it as a parent or think that well is not my place. But this is something for embracing. And I think as a parent we have to even step outside of ourselves and not just think about what we're doing for the parents and the teachers, but what we're doing for our children.

33:30
Kenneth Reddick
Because if we don't somehow navigate through this space as everything is going AI jobs are being replaced based on AI, if we don't assist our kids in understanding how to utilize this and those people that are in part of our children's lives, then it's going to be a disservice not only for us, our children, but ultimately for the system as a whole. And so that's why I was glad to be on here because having utilized it and having parents now that come up to me and say, man, since you told me about that chat GPT this or that or whatever, I use it for everything now. And I love the way Jordan put in there about you can continuously, once you put that information in there, we can really use it as a tool to tailor for our children individually.

34:24
Kenneth Reddick
So it's not just about the data we're inputting that can be used to help the broad. And I'll just say this and close on this comment, but we give our kids a cell phone and they talk into that and it takes all the information there, you know, so this is an educational tool that can be utilized for even of a greater advantage. And I think that it's something as a parent, I've even have to even through this conversation, honestly, I got to find more ways to utilize it even more so with my children. So.

34:58
Amanda Bickerstaff
And I think, yeah, and I think that what we see right now at least is that when those have AI literacy, they actually get more value from the tools themselves. And not just value, but economic value. So you're 25 year old and 22 year old. If they were able to really access and use these tools meaningfully, they could get a leg up at work, which I think is really what's pretty interesting. But we're going to shift into we have some more practical stuff. So actually I might go a little bit further because we've been talking about this and then we'll come back to the meaty kind of safety and digital wellness to Jason's point. But there everything that we've been talking about, Kenneth and Jason nailed this. We've got Shelley and Jordan and other Tanya and in the chat.

35:38
Amanda Bickerstaff
But the benefits of this are personalized learning. I mean the fact that, you know, I really don't understand, you know, statistics explain it to me in a soccer frame, which is a real story. Both a teacher and a student use this as a real way of like starting to have explanations to them. Is something that can be really great and it also can be something that can really get you exactly where you are. Let's say that I am have a Spanish speaker at home and I'm expected to do my work in English. Can I get extra support and actually having it spoken to me in Spanish or translated and then I can then turn key that also real time feedback. The number one user of ChatGPT in the US up to three, up to a third of all users are students.

36:23
Amanda Bickerstaff
And when talking to OpenAI they'll be like, and those students are using this tool between 11pm and p.m. 2am when the fear sets in and Kenneth and Jason are asleep and if you wake them up they'd be very upset, you know, like your teachers would be upset about you calling. But let's like I also remember very early on that there was someone that created a grading tool for an essay that was very popular in the UK to get into college. And their number one user wasn't teachers, it was students trying to finish that paper and get feedback on it. And so the students found it, they used it to get feedback and fix their, you know, like to crystallize it and get all that feedback.

37:04
Amanda Bickerstaff
The bot was never annoyed with them or they didn't ask too many questions or didn't matter who they were. Like there was some real opportunity there. So the idea of real time feedback is great. Like I talked about before, creative support and as also, you know, AI has been accessibility tools for as long as there have been accessibility tools in the technology. Whether that's voice to text. It is text to voice. It is going to be computer vision where we can take images and actually have AI actually tell us what's in those images. The ability for those with load, like with low motor skills to be able to actually draw or to write in ways they haven't been before. All of this is going to be a benefit. But then on the other side there are definitely some potential challenges.

37:45
Amanda Bickerstaff
Whether that is the tools themselves can be. They make mistakes all the time. They're not designed to be correct, they're designed to be pleasing that you like it that Kenneth thought that was a good answer. Even if it was wrong. There's the risk of like cognitive offload that young people are Using these tools so much that they're actually not learning those foundational skills or they're losing the ability to critically evaluate the output like outputs, which is really necessary. And I think that we know right now that due to social media and devices that critical evaluation, critical thinking is not, it's on the decline for some of our young people. We have things we already talked about with data privacy and security. Developmental appropriateness.

38:28
Amanda Bickerstaff
The difference between your 22 year old, Kenneth, using a chatbot and your 8 year old, if that chatbot is funny to your 22 year old and says something, they're going to be like, that's a bot. But if your 8 year old hears it, they might think it's real, right? And so the idea that developmental appropriateness and then Jason, you have nailed this over and over again, which I just so appreciate is that equity of access piece, right? Like who actually has access to these tools, the training around these tools. And so I think that this is where we really want it to be balanced. Because to our point, even Stacy, like the wow factor, right, the wow factor of what we do, of getting people engaged is great, but we always have to temper that with the risks associated with an emerging technology.

39:12
Amanda Bickerstaff
And it's designed by technologists that give you things for free because they make money off of giving you things for free. Like, you know, and so, and that is why YouTube kids, you know, is so popular. They make a gazillion dollars on YouTube kids with all of the purchases and the ads that Jason was talking about before. But I want to go back though, because I think that this is such a key point that we need to talk about is the AI and well being. And so we actually recommend, I don't know if Kenneth and Jason, you agree, but we actually recommend that no kid under 13 is using generative AI tools and especially not without AI literacy first or parental and, or teacher oversight.

39:56
Amanda Bickerstaff
And the reason we do that is because that's actually the, that's the level in which these tools are developed. Like, like ChatGPT. The terms of service is 13 and up. There is a lack of research about the impact on young people. But I think that for us it can lead to a couple things which is over reliance on AI for emotional support or guidance, a preference for AI interaction over human connection. We've heard this over and over again where kids have started to socially isolate and only talk to AI as their friend because people are hard, people get mad, they're chaotic, they might not agree with you, they might make you feel bad. And AI is designed to make you like it. Right. It's designed to respond in ways that are again, pleasing. So I'll stop there.

40:47
Amanda Bickerstaff
But like Kenneth or Jason, like, I don't know if you agree with this. You, I mean, what are you thinking? Especially in terms of like equity of access. But I'll start with Jason, like, do you agree with this idea of over 13?

41:00
Jason B. Allen
I think that it definitely needs to be monitored. I think 13 is an appropriate age. I also haven't been a long time middle school teacher. The coming of age years are so important for children as they are matriculating from tweenhood to teenhood. And so I think that again, that guidance is needed for the well being of children. Also, just thinking about one of the things from our climate change caucus, when we think about the advocacy parents are doing across the nation for electric school buses, that is again going to advance AI and digital access on school buses. And so how are we dealing appropriately with cyberbullying, which is not new. That has been going on for a while. Catfishing is not new. That has been going on for a while.

41:56
Jason B. Allen
We see it a lot, you know, very frequently in reality tv, which is a reality, maybe not real life, but it is a reality, unfortunately, that our young people who, again, if you're under the age of 13, a lot of times you think what you see and maybe hear your interpretation of things is that this could actually be real. And so we do hear concerns from parents and families. And of course, I'll lend us over into Kenneth's sphere in regards to parenting and the concerns around the emotional support that young people are finding with AI and how to balance real relationships and again, reinforcing the needs of humans with connectivity, with compassion, with humanity. Those things are important to the mental health, emotional and social development of children. And you know, again, being 13 gives you a starting point.

42:57
Jason B. Allen
It's not saying that even at 13 you need to just open up the floodgates of advanced technology and AI. That's a starting point. So when they're 18 and they're, you know, in college or maybe a military program or vocational school or tech school, whatever their pathway may be, they'll be prepared, but they won't be so overtaken with all things AI.

43:24
Amanda Bickerstaff
Yeah. And then Kenneth, like, yeah, I think the idea of that, like emotional dependence and support from these tools, it'd be interesting to hear your point of view.

43:32
Kenneth Reddick
Yeah. And thanks, Jason, because, you know, mental health is right up my alley of what I heavily Focus on. And I think, like you say, 13 is an age to target. I think a lot of times when it comes to parenting, we try to put certain things in place or certain guard rails, but we still have to understand that every child is different and that my child is. May not be at the point of 13 or even from a mental health perspective, depending on what that child has going on mentally, as we see different things. As I'm. I'm a very holistic person to look at everything as a whole. And if my child, even though they hit certain.

44:15
Kenneth Reddick
At 13, May hit certain mental health challenges where I need to monitor a little bit more what he's doing because of certain things that may not present a certain way or may even be a little bit more from an aggression side. You know, I think we, a lot of times we look at relationships, people that they're exposed to, but then also what are the things that they might be creating on AI and that's where parent supervision, even at the older ages, as we look at a lot of things that are going into society. That's why it's even more important for us as parents to understand, but also monitor our children to make sure that they're not creating things that could harm them even more so emotionally. And it comes to accountability as parents, you know, from a mental standpoint.

45:08
Kenneth Reddick
So, you know, the only thing I always kind of throw in, and I'm gonna throw this in here right quick. The only thing I always put as something that I recommend to families from a mental standpoint is from a. From a. From a target date, is when a child starts in school, maybe getting a therapist. So that way, as they're getting to these ages, like me, I would go to my son that's eight. He's proactively in therapy. That's my coach, even for him. So if it's something AI related, I'm able to go to his therapist and say, hey, I was thinking about doing this with Trey. That's Kenneth iii. I was thinking about doing this with Trey. You know, what do you think? What do you think? Is that too much exposure? Is that something that I should be doing?

45:54
Kenneth Reddick
So I think that even around this AI space, we have to make sure that we have the right resources and tools for ourselves and our children to make those best sound judgments. Because if I'm not privy to what my child may need or have the best understanding, then it may be more of a disservice offering up certain things that may be a little bit more of a hindrance emotionally and mentally.

46:18
Amanda Bickerstaff
Thanks. Yeah. And I mean, first of all, like, you know, I think that the idea of connecting this even deeper into supports around young people, I think is really important. Important. One of the reasons why young people turn to AI companions like Character AI or Snapchat AI or some of the others out there is because they're not getting that emotional connection. They're not, they're not having conversations with people their own age or even adults. They are not having meaningful connections in general. And so while the bot is not real, what feels real is real, especially to a 10 year old, a 15 year old, a neurodivergent young person.

46:57
Amanda Bickerstaff
Like it's, it doesn't matter if the, if on the other side of statistical probability, if it says, you know, I hope you're okay and I care about you and I agree, like it's gonna feel, it's going to give a dopamine hit. It's going to feel a connection regardless if it's Kenneth on the other side or the Kenneth bot. And so I think that's where it gets really interesting. But I want to point out two things of what you said in terms of young people using these in ways that could be harmful. One is to themselves, like we just talked about, of overdependence and one is to other people like they're, you know, very popular with young men is deep fakes of young women that are deep fake nudes for, you know, to get real.

47:38
Amanda Bickerstaff
It's like, you know, a 12 or 13 year old can go on not the dark web, but literally the app Store and get a free notification app and upload any image of a young girl or a young boy or adult and create deep fake realistic nudes. And I think that, you know, to Kenneth, your point is like, again, it's not just about your young people potentially causing harm to themselves through something that they don't intend to be harmful, but also could actively harm. Whether it's cyberbullying, like Jason said, whether it's deep fake news, whether it's just deep fakes in general. And having those types of conversations with young people that you have, not only you don't need to prioritize only your well being, but you need to also be respectful of the well being of those around you.

48:18
Amanda Bickerstaff
And that these tools can be actively harmful, I think is an important conversation as well. So we're going to kind of like wrap up a little bit because we're coming up on time. But we have in the document, first of all just remember that this is all in the document with a lot more good information. But we have some questions for you. If you're a teacher to think about or a leader or for a parent like Kenneth to actually start asking. I don't know if you've asked any of these, but everything about to the research about having formal policies, but then some, like, really like deeper stuff here too is like, are students being taught foundational AI literacy before using gen AI tools? Are there safeguards in place around everything from data privacy to bias?

49:02
Amanda Bickerstaff
What happens if my kid uses AI and gets caught? Or you think they use AI and they didn't? What does that mean for them? Are you actually evaluating the appropriateness and accessibility of these tools for diverse learners? What are you going to do if a parent says, if we say no generative AI, like, do you actually have a technique or strategy for that's ready? And I think that this is where it becomes so important to have these deeper discussions. But we're just going to end. And I think, Kenneth, I would love you and also Jason, as the advocates that you are, to talk a little bit about that. This is about your, like, as educated as parents and caregivers and a community. This is about your values much than everything else.

49:44
Amanda Bickerstaff
There's no right answer today, I think, other than AI literacy, even if it means just learning about AI and not with AI is incredibly important to our young people's futures. But you can advocate for, like, your young people. You can have meetings to understand why you, if they don't have alternative approaches, you can present the ones you want to see. Like you said, Ken, going beyond, like, actually stepping out of what you like, you think is the right way to communicate and partner with a school. You can connect with other parents with similar concerns to collectively advocate. You can offer resources if, like Kenneth is and Jason are amazing. Kenneth's like, I'm going to come in and do an AI training for parents, like, or I'm going to talk to kiddos and help to understand this.

50:25
Amanda Bickerstaff
Or NPU is going to come in and have a deeper conversation. But the idea of advocating for what you think is best in this moment, I think is incredibly important. And just being heard is going to be like, well, great that you teach my kid generative AI, but I have no access at home. What's going to happen then? Like, how are you going to help that? Like, and having those conversations are going to be really important. So I'm going to calm off the share, but I'd love to kind of end around here about thinking about those values and how you advocate for your young people. I'm gonna start with Kenneth and I'm Jason. You're gonna get the last word, but if you don't mind sharing, that would be great.

51:00
Kenneth Reddick
Yeah, I mean, I, first of all, thank you, Amanda, for having me, but also for the additional insight because it truly has motivated me and I hope that it's motivated some of the other parents because with the work that I'm doing even at my son's school and Getting Dads Together program, I'm calling now Dads Opening doors. And this next weekend I have a Dads and Kids vision board event for the community. I'm already thinking about how can we incorporate a. A kids and a Dads and Kids AI, you know, event to get them together, play around with it a little bit and make it a learning process. Like we, like you said, it is the way of the future. You know, if we.

51:48
Kenneth Reddick
I was joking with you before when we get first got on and I was like, you know, hey, I remember when I first got it. You may not even remember they called them Atom computers. That was the first computer and you moved away from the dot printers and those sorts of things. It's always going to be a little bit leery and as technology progresses, you know, there's always going to be some unknowns. But the reality is, at the end of the day, this is our kids future. And the best thing that we can do is parents as educators, like I say, I'm very active at my son's school, is to create this awareness, continue to have the conversations. Like I saw a few people put it in the chat, hey, if you've utilized something, share it with somebody, you know, let them know.

52:33
Kenneth Reddick
Because the more that we talk about it, the more that we have the proactive conversations with our kids versus reactive conversations after we found out that they've created something or that they have this new friend that you know. But I'd say this too. Meet our kids where they are. A lot of times we don't understand why they stay on the computer so long. We, you know, we may want to say, you know, they always on there, go sit down and watch what they're doing. Spend that time with them. Because we can learn as well from them. And I think a lot of times we take the approach of what we need to know to tell our kids. But sometimes we can learn just as much by going in and figuring out.

53:20
Kenneth Reddick
And I think that's a way that this AI platform for the Future is a way that we can actually partner with our children and learn and grow together versus just thinking that we have to tell them or teach them something. Something. So, I mean, I'm excited. I'm pretty sure Jason is excited because I know we already got our juices flowing about, you know, hey, how we can do more around this. And I'm looking forward to working with you more, Amanda, in the future.

53:47
Amanda Bickerstaff
Absolutely. And it was, you know, I think you've done a beautiful job and we just appreciate your perspective. But Jason, kind of, I would love you to take us out just a little bit as like globally. And someone was talking about. And I think we've done a good job of balance. Right. Like, it's not fear and doom. It's not over AI optimism. And somewhere that pragmatic approaches, especially because the people that are going to be impacted the most are our young people. The younger you are today or even the ones that are not born yet, will be the most impacted by this technology. And so I'd love to kind of hear your last words and what you're thinking about, you know, supporting an advocation for our young people.

54:24
Jason B. Allen
Awesome. I have so many notes to share, but I know we're at the end. And so I'll reinforce urgency and importance of creating strong partnerships with schools, parents, families, caretakers, educate. I think collectively this will be something that will become the way of living and also how they advance technology as they come into adulthood. And it's important that we keep them of this. Again, the National Parents Union, as we're focusing on policies that are impacting access, that are impacting curriculum, that are impacting the way that we present AI. Generative learning is important to this, and so is diversity, equity, and inclusion, because we all are not the same. We all have different experiences. Just because I grew up in a city doesn't mean that I didn't have resources.

55:25
Jason B. Allen
I think that also being in education 20 years data can definitely be to the success of our pathways, and it can also be to our detriment. And I view AI the same way that if we don't have a balance of how we're connecting the dots generationally with this, then we're going to continue to see a generation that is invisible and divided. So that's what. That's one of the reasons why NPU focuses on developing a connected generation, making sure that we're all connected, not just to the conversations, to the program development, to the application development and the innovation of it all, but making sure that we are connected to the policies that help even push these things forward in our schools through budgets, through different programs and initiatives that our children are exposed to.

56:23
Jason B. Allen
And so partnership is a good way to close out and just ensuring again that we're doing this all together for the advancement of our future.

56:32
Amanda Bickerstaff
Absolutely. And I just want to say that, you know, part, like partnering with your young people, co learning, like Kenna said, partnering with educators in schools, partnering with each other, as you know, I. I think this is like an opportunity. Like I'll just end here. Like this is the only, like, only time in the world that we're all learning the same thing at the same time. Maybe, like, maybe Covid, but it was, you know, I don't want to say short because everyone's going to. At me, but like not a very long time in the scope of things with a relatively limited impact on the way that we teach young people. But I do think that this is an opportunity. Like kids can, like kids can come up and be advocates for AI literacy. Parents can work with educators.

57:13
Amanda Bickerstaff
Educators can ask for parental, like, input in ways that never been possible for. Because we're all learning together. So I just want to say, first of all, can we give everybody a beautiful, like Kenneth and Jason. Can we just give them like the round of applause? I know we can't see you. I'm going to give you a heart from me and our team. I just appreciate both of your, first of all, your like, openness to talk about this, like having a deep discussion, being so thoughtful. We appreciate you and everyone that joined. I love that C Cece said we're going to do. We're doing a parent community event. And now we have other ideas here. If you, if you are a parent, we hope this galvanizes you to have conversations with your young people and the schools.

57:50
Amanda Bickerstaff
If you are an educator, we want you to talk to parents. It is so important. So we just want to say thank you. I hope everyone has a beautiful weather. It's the morning in New Zealand or it's. It's night in Flint, Michigan. I appreciate everybody. Thank you so much. And thank you Kenneth and Jason. We appreciate you guys.