Iman Gad of Girls for Gender Equity testifies on AI surveillance and youth voices

Hi, good afternoon, Chair Dinowitz, Chair Krishnan, and members of the Joint Committee.

My name is Iman, and I'm the Policy Advocacy Manager at Girls for Gender Equity.

As the Council assesses screen time and the use of digital devices within New York City public schools, we are here today to urge the City to prioritize the education, privacy, and safety of our students over tech profiteering companies by implementing

processes that interrogate the impact of technology on students and supporting young people through proven safety infrastructures, such as tech literacy, restorative justice, mental health access, and immigrant protections.

At a time when technology and AI are moving at an unprecedented pace, assessing the impact and implications of tech in schools is essential to its proper integration.

School is a place where young people should be free to feel safe, try new things, and learn, but instead the interests of tech companies have bombarded our students with technology tools that have breached their privacy,

made their devices more addictive, and taken away the connection and critical thinking skills that are paramount to their education.

The expansion of AI systems in educational settings also increases the potential for heightened monitoring and surveillance of students, disproportionately affecting black and brown students who are already subject to greater scrutiny in school environments.

Further, we are particularly concerned with how the surveillance and collection of data can threaten the safety of our immigrant students being targeted by ICE.

As the DOE looks to implement new tech policies in schools, we call for the inclusion of youth voices to these conversations and decisions.

Last November, the Alliance on Gender Equity, our youth-led organizing base, held a youth town hall to inform our School Girls Demand campaign.

A campaign with the purpose of uplifting the voices of young people and empowering them to ask city officials for what they need.

AI and technology were hot topics in that room of 70 students from schools across the five boroughs.

Students expressed...

Expressed grievances that included the need, the needs for best practices for utilizing AI in learning environments, the racial disparities in AI access,

education, climate conscious ways to use AI, the desire to learn about data privacy, their digital footprint, and methods to protect themselves.

As our youth participants reflected on their time and programs, I'll leave you with this quote that they had.

I feel like another way that I can achieve social justice is telling my friends and family about consentful tech.

I feel like that's very important to me now that AI is taking over, making sure that we're using apps and devices that ask for consent before they just take the information that we're giving to them.

I'll submit the rest in my written testimony.

Thank you.