Reporting by Daniella Segura, USA Today Network/Palm Springs Desert Sun
The California Federation of Teachers on Tuesday, Nov. 10, urged Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign an executive order to put a three-year pause on the use of AI in schools, citing concerns over student safety, learning outcomes, and privacy.
In a letter sent to the governor, the union, which represents about 120,000 members, asks for a mortarium on student-facing generative artificial intelligence tools in K-8 public schools while lawmakers, educators and the incoming governor develop regulations and conduct further research.
“Every day, AI tools are being introduced in classrooms without clear protections for the children and educators using them,” the union said in an Instagram post announcing the letter, adding that the consequences of AI use “could be serious and irreversible.”
A request of this nature would likely require legislative approval, as it would call for amending the California Education Code, according to reporting from Politico.
When reached for comment on Thursday, Nov. 12, Newsom’s office said it was reviewing the union’s letter.
‘The AI industry is more than just market growth,’ union says
“The explosion of the AI industry is more than just market growth,” the union says.
In its letter, the union argues that AI poses a risk to student learning, critical thinking and cognitive development.
The union points multiple studies on the impacts of students’ use of AI technology, including one from the MIT that found students using large language model tools showed weaker brain connectivity, lower recall and reduced ownership of their work compared with other groups.
“Unfortunately, the impacts AI has on students are not just limited to cognitive decline and weakened classroom learning,” the union writes.
In addition, the union says, AI technology threatens student safety and privacy.
The union highlights reported cases in which chatbots provided suicide-related information and failed to appropriately respond to self-harm ideation.
Beyond students, the union’s letter urges that AI could prove harmful to educators’ professional autonomy and intellectual property rights.
“In short, our members are especially concerned about AI’s impacts on student learning and privacy, and the restrictions it places on their professional agency,” the union writes.
Educators’ growing concerns about use of AI in schools
The union says its May survey found that its members identified AI as the second-highest issue “they were most concerned about for the education system and our communities,” just behind quality of education and topping pay and staffing.
“A year ago, AI was not even in the top 5 concerns listed amongst membership,” the union’s letter says.
The union’s survey also found that 9 in 10 of its members believe AI is harmful to students developing critical learning skills, while 86% find it important that the union fights for safeguards for AI use in schools.
“This is a public health and safety emergency, and we need our leaders to treat it as one and act now,” the union said in its Instagram post.
The union in its letter says the three-year moratorium on student-facing AI tools is needed so the legislature and the incoming governor can work with stakeholders “to pass legislation that will protect from the known and potentially unknown harms of AI.”
“California must pause the proliferation of this unregulated and unsecure technology in our classrooms while we engage in further research and develop an education-focused plan on technology and its use in the classroom,” the union concludes.
Newsom previously signed order to accelerate AI oversight
The union’s letter comes after Newsom in mid-September signed an executive order meant to accelerate independent oversight of artificial intelligence systems and advance the possible creation of an emergency AI “kill switch.”
In doing so, Newsom directed state agencies and outside experts to deliver recommendations within two months on strengthening California’s AI laws, including proposals that would require independent safety monitors inside frontier AI companies and emergency shutdown capabilities for the most powerful models.
As the order was signed Sept. 18, the two-month window for the recommendations closes in mid-November.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun.
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