Larry Lieberman of MOUSE on AI training demand from teachers

Good afternoon.

There we go.

Good afternoon and thank you, council members.

My name is Larry Lieberman and I'm here on behalf of MOUSE, a nonprofit that for 30 years has trained New York City public schools, students and teachers to use technology creatively and responsibly.

We appreciate the council's attention to security and to artificial intelligence in the classroom.

The answer, of course, is not avoiding AI education or distancing our educators from positive and helpful technology.

The answer is more training.

Teachers and our young people know that AI is available and need to learn what it is, how it works, where they are using it, and how to use it safely, intentionally, and equitably.

That is exactly what Mouse's AI League does at 40 New York City public schools across all five boroughs with curriculum created in partnership with Carnegie Mellon University.

That, to your point earlier, includes an incredible set of generative AI lessons using only whiteboards, markers, and yellow stickies.

In the program, like Mouse's AI League, students in NYC are learning how AI works and knowing this helps protect them.

We urge the council to vigorously move to protect student safety while supporting high quality digital learning.

Together, our jobs include ensuring that New York City public school students are prepared to be the future engineers and innovators at New York City's formidable employees.

Last week, 83 New York City teachers in Council District 35 attended a mouse generative AI fluency training.

Yesterday, 25 more high school teachers in Council District 15 attended mouse generative AI training.

The demand among teachers for AI training is as large as anything we have ever seen in 30 years.

Please come visit Mouse in the Classroom.

Get to know our teachers.

Thank you.

Happy to.

Thanks.