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Public Testimony

Kamala Carmen on young people's distrust of AI and resume concerns

New York City Council · Jun 24, 2026 · starts 5:05:45 · 2 min 16 sec

Carmen, mother of two NYC public school graduates, testifies that Gen Z expresses distrust and alarm at AI's encroachment. She shares her daughter's experience with an AI job portal that misrepresented her resume, and her daughter's decision to stop using AI to avoid losing her ability to write. She warns AI in schools serves standardized testing obsession.

Eric Dinowitz

Kamala Carmen.

Eric Dinowitz

You may begin.

Member of the Public

Okay, thank you.

Member of the Public

I am the mother of two children who graduated from New York City Public Schools and are now in their early 20s.

Member of the Public

I'm sure you've read about this, but in polls and in the reaction to commencement speakers, young people of their generation, Gen Z, express distrust of and even alarm at the encouragement of AI into seemingly all aspects of their lives.

Member of the Public

This is in direct contrast to the woman who was...

Member of the Public

anti-the-moratorium before who was like, it's all over their lives and they love it.

Member of the Public

No, they don't love it.

Member of the Public

One of my daughters recently sent me screenshots of the portal that was being used for a job she was applying for.

Member of the Public

She'd been instructed to upload her resume to the portal, which then distributed it into various sections, transforming it as it did so into language which was not her own.

Member of the Public

And in her opinion, misrepresented her understanding of her abilities and workplace objectives.

Member of the Public

She confided in me that she had started to use AI on her resume, but had decided not to do so in the future because it was, quote, too easy, and she didn't want to, quote, lose her ability to write.

Member of the Public

I fear that when she was younger, this same child might not have had this wise realization.

Member of the Public

Not that she wasn't wise.

Member of the Public

the time, but it is a bit of a mature realization, I think.

Member of the Public

And it's terrifying that children, you know, who are going through this are feeling that they are going to be denied their abilities to develop as

Member of the Public

as writers, as thinkers.

Member of the Public

And I just want to close by saying that I know a lot of the ed tech that is coming into our schools is coming into it because we have an obsession with standardized testing and test scores.

Member of the Public

And so a lot of the screeners, the corporate curriculum, et cetera, are all being put in at the service of raising test scores.

Member of the Public

Time expired.