The Role of AI in Education

By Santi Khairassame, Founder Project Recess

Unless you’ve been living under a rock (or stuck in the perpetual traffic of the Kew Gardens interchange), you've probably heard of ChatGPT and the potential for artificial intelligence (AI) to take over the world. While it remains to be seen whether AI will evolve into Skynet, there is no denying that this technology is transforming how people work, communicate, and learn.

AI has become the trending topic in every industry, particularly education. Over the past decades, teaching and learning have progressively incorporated technology-based learning solutions; the pandemic only accelerated this trend. Unfortunately, not all schools have the expertise or resources to implement these solutions effectively, creating a digital divide that only stands to widen with the advent of AI. Project Recess aims to address this challenge by continuing its mission of guiding educators on how to use emerging technologies in meaningful ways. The advent of generative AI tools, like ChatGPT, bring our most unique challenge yet, how do we help schools navigate the rela- tionship between artificial intelligence and authentic learning?

In our 10 years of supporting schools in their use of emerging technologies, I have yet to see a tool generate as much excitement and fear as ChatGPT, the eerily realistic chatbot launched by Open AI. From writing Shakespearean sonnets and high school papers to passing the bar exam, ChatGPT has smashed through the door of the education world. What’s interesting, though, is that despite these impressive feats, ChatGPT is usually painted in a negative light. News outlets often reference the debate over banning ChatGPT in schools, an approach notably instituted by the New York City Department of Education. To me, this seems like a way to stoke fear in the hearts of parents and educators, as if ChatGPT were an enemy that needs to be defeated. These calls for bans and protests feel like knee-jerk rejections that ignore the opportunity to educate students on how they can responsibly navigate this brave new world.

Life is cyclical, and the backlash against ChatGPT is almost reminiscent of when calculators or the Internet were first introduced in schools. I propose that, rather than striving to preserve the status quo, educators can learn from past experiences and cautiously embrace these tools to properly evaluate and implement them.

As a contracted NYC DOE vendor, Project Recess leads professional development workshops and training programs that help teachers understand and incorporate technology in their classrooms, including AI-based tools. One of our longstanding partnerships is with Middle School 217 in Briarwood, Queens, where teachers have continually embraced technologies that enhance instruction and learning for their 1,600 students. Principal Patrick Burns has the Wayne Gretzky mindset of "skating to where the puck is going," understand-

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