Effie Zachary on DOE slowness and inevitability of AI

Thank you, Chair Dinowitz and Chair DeRosa.

My name is Effie Zachary.

Formerly, I used to be the vice president of CCHS, and more recently, the Queen's representative on the PEP.

I was elected by parents to both positions, not appointed by any politician.

I wasn't going to speak, but I heard a lot today that made me do want to speak a little bit.

Almost everything we heard today about contracts and privacy, nothing is new.

It was discussed at least three, four years ago, especially when the Illuminate had a serious breach.

I was on many committees, many task force.

We had questions, we gave a lot of suggestions, and I'm dismayed to see that almost every good, sensible suggestion that was made has been pretty much ignored, certainly not implemented.

And when I hear the term like almost two-year moratorium, it almost makes me laugh.

Almost by default, everything that the DOE starts to do has a two-year moratorium.

They're so slow to move.

In a topic like AI, which right now is one of the fastest evolving technology, jokes are posted with what I consider one of the slowest moving agencies in New York City.

It's almost laughable that we're going to have an agency that moves very slow.

Trying to

contain something that moves very fast.

I don't think there's any way to just avoid AI.

It's the coming technology.

It's here.

It's a tool we need to use.

What we do need to focus on is what are the safety measures, both privacy and integrity, things like that.

So let's forget about not letting it happen.

It's going to happen.

No way you can avoid progress.

But we need to think, like, what are the guardrails that we need to put in place?

That should be the focus.

Thank you very much.