Shannon Ritchie on AI moratorium and ed tech as data collection
Ritchie, a parent and former teacher, calls for an AI moratorium and reduction of ed tech products. She cites a New York Times article where Google said investing in schools helps onboard kids to its ecosystem, and argues schools are force-feeding tech products that collect and sell children's private information. She calls for nurturing human connection in education.
Hello, my name is Shannon Ritchie.
I am a parent of a third grader in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, and a member of the SLT.
I am here today to speak out against the use of AI in our schools and to encourage a push from the council to reduce our usage of ed tech products.
First, I would like to thank the council members who have signed on to our moratorium proposal.
Thank you for listening to your constituents.
To those who haven't yet signed, I hope you are listening today.
The DOE claims to want parent and student input, but they couldn't be bothered to stay here and hear us out.
So much of what they said today is misleading and misrepresenting what we are experiencing on a daily basis.
It's nearly impossible to find real peer-reviewed data supporting the use of AI in education.
So what are we doing here?
Why aren't we listening to scientists, researchers, or education experts?
Why are we simply trusting the words of salespeople, of representatives from ed tech and AI companies?
According to a New York Times article, Google claimed, quote, investing in
and schools helps onboard kids into Google's ecosystem, end quote.
Schools are force-feeding kids tech products, and those products are collecting, storing, and selling private information pulled from our children's brains.
This is a plot straight from a dystopian sci-fi novel, yet we are living this reality every day when we send our children to school.
Our kids and our teachers deserve more than being reduced to data collection.
Speaking as an educator myself, learning is driven by human connection.
It is not merely pouring information from one source into another, which is essentially how ed tech products work.
If we want a robust public education system, we need to nurture it and curb the over-reliance on screens.
We need an AI moratorium now, and this city needs to stop seeing our children as products being ripened for harvest by Google and predatory ed tech companies.
Thank you so much.
You're welcome.
I have to ask first.
I have to ask.
You said you're an educator yourself?
I'm not currently teaching, but I was a teacher, yes.
Very cool.
Okay.
Thank you.
Thank you.
You may be in.
Yeah.