New York · Fortune Technology
Teachers warn it could ‘end up widening’ the divide it’s meant to close
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This week, the Gates Foundation announced a $1 billion commitment to build and deliver equitable AI tools to schools, frontline health care workers, farmers, and more.
Key facts
- On Sept. 2, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels announced what the city called the nation’s broadest moratorium on student-facing generative AI
- This week, the Gates Foundation announced a $1 billion commitment to build and deliver equitable AI tools to schools, frontline health care workers, farmers, and more
- That’s a whopping $400 million infusion into schools for a tool that’s only been around (at least commercially) for a handful of years
- Siobhan Casey, who has worked in education for 21 years both as a teacher and in leadership roles, said that while AI has been useful as a starting point for lesson planning and administrative work
Summary
That’s a whopping $400 million infusion into schools for a tool that’s only been around (at least commercially) for a handful of years. And it comes at a time when the value of classroom technology is being questioned. Test scores have dropped among some students over the same time period since computer assessments were widely implemented. “Evidence indicates that indiscriminate digital expansion has weakened learning environments rather than strengthened them,” he wrote.