Maryland school districts must develop artificial intelligence (AI) policies under the new Artificial Intelligence Ready Schools Act. The Maryland State Department of Education established and provided districts with AI guidelines that include elements for schools to consider when approaching how and what AI tools will be used in their classrooms, including data privacy, technology bias and ensuring classroom instruction is still “human-centered.” The guidelines also emphasize that school districts should clearly determine what appropriate AI usage looks like in their classrooms.
Jing Liu, associate professor and founding director of the Center for Educational Data Science and Innovation, said the guidance is a good starting point, and it must continue to evolve alongside the technology.
"AI is very different compared to prior technology breakthroughs because they are evolving so fast and they can do things that are directly different this month compared to last month,” he explained. “[The guidelines] cannot be a static thing. It has to be very adaptive."
